Minnesota 3rd District Congressman Jim Ramstad was our special guest speaker this morning at the Eden Prairie A.M. Rotary Club. Congressman Ramstad is a regular guest at our Rotary Club meetings during his Easter Recess from Congress.
He spoke today on a number of topics. It was a general update of what’s happening in DC. He spoke about his hopes for the extension of the current array of federal tax cuts, his hopes for a resolution of hostilities in Iraq, his backing of legislation to allow states to opt out of No Child Left Behind and ethics & lobbying reform.
Most of his comments were about health care reform, and specifically about mental health and addiction parity in the health insurance and treatment world. Congressman Ramstad is a strong advocate in this are of health care reform. He wants health insurance companies to cover addiction treatment and mental health care in the same manner as they cover physical health care costs. He is supporting legislation that would prohibit health insurance policies from imposing higher copays and higher deductibles for this kind of care. He said this morning: “It’s time to end the discrimination and treat mental illness and addiction the same as physical diseases.”
Well said Congressman.
