Today, former congressman Patrick Kennedy delivered a speech at the Healthy Minds Conference, consistent with his long track record of advocacy on mental health issues:
"Mental illness need not to be an alien to our affection... Those with mental illness and addiction should not be precluded at any level of care based upon the severity of their illness. If their illness was cancer and was that severe, would they be garnering the same services? Or whether it was diabetes in need of that care, would they be expected to receive those services? That's a revolutionary concept. I guarantee you most people in this country do not know that there is a federal law that mandates that insurance companies not discriminate against people simply because their illness in on the brain as opposed to any other organ of the body. We need, essentially, an NAACP of mental health. We had the 1964 Civil Rights Act, but that didn't guarantee anything. Then you needed to get the Voting Rights Act. Then you needed to get the Fair Housing Act. Then the Fair Employment Act. My point is, the fight has to continue. What we need to do is make sure that the laws that are written are actually enforced."
"Mental illness need not to be an alien to our affection... Those with mental illness and addiction should not be precluded at any level of care based upon the severity of their illness. If their illness was cancer and was that severe, would they be garnering the same services? Or whether it was diabetes in need of that care, would they be expected to receive those services? That's a revolutionary concept. I guarantee you most people in this country do not know that there is a federal law that mandates that insurance companies not discriminate against people simply because their illness in on the brain as opposed to any other organ of the body. We need, essentially, an NAACP of mental health. We had the 1964 Civil Rights Act, but that didn't guarantee anything. Then you needed to get the Voting Rights Act. Then you needed to get the Fair Housing Act. Then the Fair Employment Act. My point is, the fight has to continue. What we need to do is make sure that the laws that are written are actually enforced."
RSS Feed