With Senator Edward Kennedy facing an inoperable brain tumor, much of the legislation he’s been championing in the past few years is left in limbo. The most important piece of legislation he was overseeing in mental health was the effort to make mental disorders equal to medical diseases so that health insurers can no longer discriminate against mental health concerns with limited coverage. This effort, called mental health parity, was to be decided this year, after both the House (with the help of his son, Patrick Kennedy) and Senate passed mental health parity bills which only needed to be reconciled in committee.

With Kennedy back at home and taking some time off to consider his treatment options and undergo his cancer treatment, it’s unclear what will become of this and other bills of which he was the leading sponsor.

Senator Kennedy has been a driving force in the Senate, especially during the past decade, and we wish him the best of luck with his treatment. But we also hope someone will take up his cause in helping to promote equality in health and mental health treatments. It’s a serious issue that affects millions of Americans and has been left to languish for far too long.

Read the full Time article: Kennedy’s Unfinished Senate Agenda

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 22 May 2008
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