Washington, D.C. - Energy Subcommittee Republican Leader Fred Upton (R-MI), Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA), and Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) released the following statement on their newly introduced bipartisan mental health bill, H.R. 7539, the Strengthening Behavioral Health Parity Act.
“Until we are willing to treat behavioral health and physical health the same, we will never fix this broken system. Even though behavioral health parity is the law, patients are still slipping through the cracks and we must do more to protect their access to care. Under this bipartisan bill, we can begin to fill the gaps in our behavioral health system and strengthen enforcement of existing parity laws. Congress must act urgently as COVID-19 exposes the inaccessibility of behavioral health treatment for millions of Americans. We hope our bill is quickly signed into law so that people can access the behavioral health services they need," said Upton, Bilirakis, Kennedy, and Porter.
NOTE: This legislation is being considered tomorrow at the Energy and Commerce Committee’s full committee markup.
