President Obama: Give Those Struggling with Addiction the Healthcare They Need
**Update: Thanks to you and others who stood up for equitable health care. Our voices were heard, and now for the first time, millions of children around the country will receive critical preventative care. And for the first time, millions of patients struggling with addiction will be able to receive the life-saving care they deserve. On November 8th, US Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced that the Obama administration will require insurance companies to cover mental health and addiction the same way that they cover physical illness. This news will ensure that all Americans receive the health care they deserve, no matter what their illness.
Right now, more than 100 million Americans — nearly one in three people — suffer directly or indirectly from addiction to alcohol and other drugs. But many of these people aren’t getting the appropriate care and support they need despite the passage of the Mental Health Parity & Addiction Equity Act in 2008.
This law was intended to guarantee equitable treatment for patients experiencing mental health or substance use disorders. Yet after five years, the Obama Administration has failed to release the final regulations.
Without the final regulations, the law cannot be properly enforced. This can cause inconsistent healthcare coverage for patients with mental health and substance abuse disorders. Many patients must then grapple with confusing information, pay unexpectedly high fees, abandon potentially life-saving programs, or even drop out of treatment entirely.
Sign the petition to tell the Obama Administration to release the final regulations, which will allow us to hold insurers accountable for providing proper coverage for those living with mental health and substance use disorders.
Your Administration’s failure to release final regulations on how the 2008 Mental Health Parity & Addiction Equity Act should be implemented means that insurance companies are left to choose what they pay for, and how care is delivered. This is dangerous, wrong and puts those who need our help the most at the center of a bureaucratic quagmire.
Patients are forced to grapple with confusing information, pay unexpectedly high fees, abandon potentially life-saving programs, or even drop out of treatment entirely - causing untold damage to American families.
[Your comments will go here]
Mr. President, release the final regulations and hold insurers accountable for proper coverage. We need accountability and rigorous enforcement of this law. The lives of our loved ones hang in the balance.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
