Category: politics

Mental health parity bill (HR 1424) debated this week

A bill that would force employers to provide mental health and addictions treatment coverage on par with medical conditions will be debated again this week. I say again because parity as a concept has been debated for a decade. It appears that this bill or something akin to it (HR 1424; SB 558) might pass this time around.

WashingtonWatch.com has this description:

Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007 – Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), the Public Health Service Act, and the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit treatment limits or the imposition of financial requirements on mental health and substance-related disorder benefits in group health plans which are not similarly imposed on substantially all medical and surgical benefits in any category of items or services under such plans.

Directs the Comptroller General to study the effect of the implementation of this Act on various aspects of the health care system, including the cost of and access to health insurance coverage, the quality of health care, Medicare, Medicaid, and state and local mental health and substance abuse treatment spending, and spending on public services.

I favor this bill. Families are often frustrated in their efforts to care for a family members with a mental or emotional disorder due to inconsistent and inadequate insurance coverage. With inadequate coverage, very few people can afford to pay for treatment of chronic disorders. Psychiatric disorders are major causes of diability but with adequate care, some diabilities can be addressed in an effective manner. Even with a significant mental disorder, people can continue to work productively if they have proper care.

For those inclined, the American Counseling Association has a position paper with suggestions for calling legislators to register viewpoints about the issue.

James Dobson to endorse Huckabee, AP says

What goes around comes around. Quite awhile ago, there was a report floating around that James Dobson would endorse Mike Huckabee. That was flatly denied. Apparently, the second time will be the real thing according to the Associated Press.

Now, this puts a dent in my McCain – Huckabee ’08 prediction. Would Dr. Dobson endorse Huck without a promise not to be a VP on the McCain ticket?

UPDATE: Gary Schneeberger at FOTF just confirmed the report and I saw a couple of minutes ago that Citizenlink, FOTF’s public policy alert, confirmed the endorsement as well.

My question for the Huckabee camp will be what does this mean for his future as a Veep possibility? Any Huckabee supporters hearing anything about that?

Romney to suspend campaign, CNN reports

CNN is reporting that Mitt Romney will suspend his campaign in response to lackluster performance on Super Duper Tuesday. It is pure speculation on my part but I wonder if he is in the market for the VP job. Either he or Huckabee on the ticket would address vocal conservative opponents of front runner, John McCain.

Suspending a campaign means he keeps his delegates but will not actively campaign. Read: He keeps his options open.

Later today, I hope to post some additional observations about the Tueday comments of James Dobson on the McCain surge. For now, let me say that I signed a petition on Tuesday to get John McCain on the PA primary ballot and I plan to vote in November. 

Ex-gay ministry may have been casualty of political endorsement

First, the Donnie McClurkin kerfuffle and now the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell endorsement. That is not a sentence, but I’ll bet a few Barack Obama supporters muttered that and more after it was recently learned that Rev. Caldwell’s church promoted Metanoia (ex-gay) Ministry on it’s church website. In a Politico.com article, Rev. Caldwell said this about the ministry:

By Monday, Caldwell’s church, Windsor Village United Methodist in Houston, scrubbed its Web site of any reference to the gay conversion program, Metanoia Ministry.

In a Politico interview Tuesday, Caldwell said his 14,000-member church – one of the largest United Methodist congregations in the country – is not affiliated with Metanoia.

“I got to tell you, this is going to sound real stupid, but I didn’t know it was on our website,” Caldwell said. “I was surprised and embarrassed by it. I’m embarrassed from the standpoint that I should have known. We have 120 ministries at the church. You can’t be on top of everything.”

When asked if he opposed such programs, Caldwell said: “It’s not a ministry of the church. It is not supported financially by the church. It is not located at the church. That is pretty much where I am with it.”

The Google cache of that website is here. I have written Barbara Hicks to find out if she still is affiliated with Metanoia and how the ministry functioned. Rev. Caldwell’s statements are curious in light of the Metanoia webpage. The webpage looks and sounds like the reader is to get the impression the ministry is a part of the church.

UPDATE: The cache has been removed but here is a saved web capture and a pdf file of the Metanoia Ministry and the Windsor Avenue church.