Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

Parity in Wash. State

Slowly, but (I hope) surely, the persistence of advocates for the mentally ill is forcing America's treatment of brain diseases and disorders to come out of the dark ages. The battle is far from over - but at least things seem to be moving in the right direction.

Today it was announced that Washington State has approved a bill that demands equal treatment of mental and phsysical illnesses. Unfortunately the bill doesn't take effect until the year 2010.

The Seattle Times reported "Convinced that an illness of the mind is as important as one of the lungs or heart, the state Senate yesterday passed a landmark bill that demands equal insurance coverage for mental and physical illnesses. Gov. Christine Gregoire is expected to sign the bill into law as early as next week. "

For the full story go to:

Seattle Times - Mental-health parity approved