Congress passed the Addiction and Mental Health Parity Legislation assuring that at least one good thing will come out of the massive bank bailout plan that has been making international headlines this week. While I am pleased to see this progress made, it bothers me that an issue that affects nearly half of all Americans in some manner had to be snuck in as an earmark bundled in with more “critical” legislation. Congress has turned into a sea of abuse where power and partisanship is the drug of choice; I always try to keep TDA apolitical but I am depressed that this legislation had been held up until now and passed for all the wrong reasons.

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Even though sponsored by both sides of the aisle, up until now it had faced opposition from members of both parties. Two of the principal figures of this legislation, Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.) and Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), released the following statement.

This legislation is one more step in the long civil-rights struggle to ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to reach their potential. For far too long, health insurance companies have used the stigma of mental illness and substance abuse as an excuse to deny coverage for those biological disorders. That ends today when this critical legislation outlaws the discrimination that is embedded in our laws and our policies. ~ Jointogether.org

Insurers will not be forced to cover all addiction and mental health issues, but no longer will they be able to arbitrarily limit coverage on those that they do. Critics say that the potential for abuse is too great and I tend to agree that the likelihood is high especially considering the target group. But considering the massive cost and collateral damage caused by addiction, I think the overall benefits will outweigh any abuse of the system.

As an advocate, I think it is not only right that we fight for these programs- we also need to guard against those that would take advantage of them and turn public opinion against us and our cause.