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No longer left out: the addiction community now expects to be at the legislative table in light of the parity victory.

Article Excerpt
As meaningful as the journey toward comprehensive insurance parity legislation proved to be for the mental health community, it could be argued that the struggle for equity was even more pivotal for addiction treatment providers and advocates. After all, no one ever doubted that any attempt to extend parity beyond the scope of a limited 1996 federal law would cover mental illnesses, but the addiction community routinely would hear terms such as "deal breaker" used to describe addiction's potential inclusion in any legislation.

"I never would have thought after Sen. [Paul] Wellstone told me they were going to have to cut us out of the first parity act in 1996 that I'd now be celebrating arm in arm with mental health advocates," says Carol McDaid, principal of the lobbying firm Capitol Decisions, Inc., and the chief parity advocate representing the addiction field.

McDaid, whose clients include two nationally known addiction treatment centers, the American Society of Addiction Medicine, and the marketers of the alcohol dependence medication Vivitrol, receives the most individual credit in the addiction advocacy arena for preserving addiction's place in the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. But in general, field leaders believe the interests of addiction treatment and recovery were well served--and probably protected for some time--because of participation from a broad coalition that included treatment professionals and individuals in recovery.

"I think this issue transcended the individual interest of either the recovery community or treatment organizations," says Ronald J. Hunsicker, DMin, president and CEO of...

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