Welcome to the website of Students For Parity, an organization of social work students, both undergraduate and graduate, who want to see the Senator Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act become law. This federal bill, also commonly called the Wellstone Parity Act, has been sitting idle in committee on Capitol Hill for over a year now, and despite widespread bipartisan support, the Republican leadership of Congress has deliberately blocked any action on it. Meanwhile, people with mental illnesses and their families are caught up in the web of trying to decide whether to get their medications or therapy or to just give up so that they can at least eat and keep a roof over their heads. The reason? There is no federal law right now in the United States that ensures that private health insurance companies cover psychiatric and other kinds of care the same way. In other words, coverage for a stroke or heart attack is often considerably much more appropriately priced and helpful than coverage for clinical depression or schizophrenia. Never mind that psychiatric illnesses are extremely common among Americans. Most people in this nation can say that our lives have been touched by our own or someone else's mental health troubles at some point in time.
The arguments of those against parity, namely the health insurance industry and some corporations, just don't hold water at all. Still, their hands appear to be full of plenty of campaign contributions and bigotry against the mentally ill, and they're dishing out what they have to any Congress member they can so that they can defeat the Wellstone Parity Act. It's our turn to show what side we are on. The more students who speak up, the louder we'll be. And as the future professionals who will serve (or might already be serving) those living with mental illnesses, our voice cannot be ignored. As future professionals in the mental health care industry, we can take on a very important role for our present and future clients. We can speak up now and let Congress know that as the future's social workers here in America, we want to enter into a field in which everyone's health concerns are regarded as being just as important, genuine, and worthy of attention as anyone else's.
