|
|
|
Sample letter to your federal legislator. Please feel free to "copy and paste" into word format. Senator Russell Feingold Today's Date, 2006 Dear_____________, Federal Legislator: I am a constituent concerned about the mental health needs of children in my community. I am aware that Wisconsin law currently only requires that Wisconsin insurance companies cover mental health treatment and substance abuse treatment up to $7000.00, so that is all that most policies do. That amount has not been increased to adjust for cost of living or treatment costs increases since the law requiring it was enacted in 1985, twenty years ago. Like physical ailments, mental illnesses are real, common, and treatable. Isn’t it time our state caught up to the 34 other states that don’t allow insurance companies to discriminate against children and adolescents with mental illness? I encourage you to consider this issue not only from the viewpoint of the human cost of our failure to provide children with needed insurance funding but from the economic cost as well. When families are unable to afford services for their afflicted children, they often are forced to turn to counties and court ordered services to meet the child’s needs. This causes an over utilization of public sector monies to provide for needs that should have first been covered by the private sector. I urge you to end this unjustified expenditure of public funds by mandating private insurance companies to cover the cost of treating mental illness and substance abuse disorders to the same extent they pay for physical disorders. As a constituent, I support a law that requires insurance companies to provide the same coverage for mental health treatment as they do for physical treatments, please show your bi-partisan support and vote in favor of The Senator Paul Wellstone Equitable Treatment Act of 2005. Thank you,
Name Address |