Letter McAndrews

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L-McAndrews/1stLK/5 inches/mark2nd

Insuring the Mentally Ill

I want to thank writer Jane Bryant Quinn and the Los Angeles Business Journal for running the Feb. 9 column, “Names can be deceiving.”

I completely agree with Quinn’s assessment of the Federal Mental Health Parity Act as deceptive because it does not achieve total parity. However, here in California, the California Alliance for the Mentally Ill (CAMI) and Assemblywoman Helen Thomson, D-Vacaville, are seeking true parity in benefits through AB 1100, which would require that all severe, biologically-based mental illnesses be covered by health insurance.

AB 1100 would provide coverage for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and severe emotional disturbances of childhood. These illnesses are not brought on by individual weakness or lack of mental acuity. Just like a heart attack, many mental illnesses have a biological cause. We need to see that the sufferers of these diseases receive the same treatment as anyone who suffers the ravages of a disease.

Grace McAndrews

Executive Director

California Alliance for the Mentally Ill

Sacramento

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