Sessions Statement on Mental Health Parity Bill

Statement

Sessions Statement on Mental Health Parity Bill

U.S. Congressman Pete Sessions (R-Dallas) released the following statement in response to today's vote on the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act (H.R. 1424) in the U.S. House of Representatives:

"Today, the House of Representatives had the opportunity to address significant mental health parity issues, ensuring access to mental health services for over 50 million adults suffering from mental disorders. Unfortunately, the Democrat Majority Leadership refused to consider the bipartisan Senate mental health parity legislation and instead insisted on today's deeply-flawed bill that does little more than cloud this critical issue with extensive and over-burdensome regulations.

"As a cosponsor of the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act, I am disappointed that this important legislation was attached to today's excessively-regulated mental health parity bill. This action taints Congress's efforts towards adequately protecting an individual's genetic information and encouraging lifesaving genetic testing, and I believe that these critical issues deserve exclusive consideration in Congress.

"As a supporter of both mental health parity and genetic non-discrimination protection, I am disappointed in House Democrat's decision to once again place politics over good public policy, and consequently, I am unable to support today's legislation. I fully support the Senate-passed mental health parity legislation, and I call on House Democrats to quickly bring the Senate bill to the floor to ensure that Americans have timely access to critical mental health services."

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