I hope this passes.

By Frederic J. Frommer, Associated Press Writer | December 28, 2006

WASHINGTON –After years of trying, advocates think they have a good chance of getting Congress to pass legislation next year that would require equal health insurance coverage for mental and physical illnesses, if their policies include both.
The legislation, named for the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, a Minnesota Democrat who championed the cause, has strong support in Congress but has run into GOP roadblocks. In the last congressional session, 231 House members — more than half of the chamber — signed on as co’sponsors. The GOP leadership, which in the past had expressed concern that the proposal would drive up health insurance premiums, wouldn’t bring it up for a vote.

In 2003, Senate Democrats tried to win passage of the bill as a tribute to Wellstone, who died in a plane crash the previous year. Republicans blocked an attempt to pass it by unanimous consent.

“I’m very optimistic that 2007 will finally be the year that our health care system recognizes that the brain is, in fact, a part of the body,” said Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat who sponsored the bill in the last Congress. “We’ve had majority support for this legislation six years in a row, and now we have a chance to bring it to the floor and pass it.”

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