May 5, 2006 - Rally for Timothy's Law in White Plains, Westchester County

Timothy's Law Rally
White Plains Times May 11, 2006
By: Lisa Tarricone

Charlene Dech had to do what no mother should ever have to do when her daughter Eva was 13 years old—she relinquished custody of her to a state institution so that Medicaid would pay for the mental health treatment Eva needed which her private insurance refused to cover. “My insurance allowed only 10 days of lifetime mental health coverage; I had to give up custody [of Eva] to receive services and then face years of court battles to get her back,” Dech told over 150 supporters and elected officials last Friday at a rally for mental health parity legislation that took place at Renaissance Plaza.

Dech was one of several speakers who came together at the rally to tell how their lives have been impacted by mental illness and chemical dependency and by the current discriminatory insurance practices in New York State that severely limit their access to treatment for these conditions. The speakers, along with several elected officials, called for the passage of Timothy’s Law, which would bring parity to insurance coverage for mental disorders and chemical dependency.

Timothy’s Law is named after Timothy O’Clair, who took his own life in March 2001 at the age of 12 after suffering from severe depression and other emotional disorders. After years of expensive out-of-pocket costs, his parents were forced to relinquish custody of him to foster care so that Medicaid could pay for the treatment he needed, which they could no longer afford and which his father’s private insurance denied.

Jean Anne Cipolla, a graduate student at Sarah Lawrence College, suffers from depression and anxiety and spoke of the “economic and political realities” of the parity law. “People ask, why give more insurance coverage to the mentally ill and the addicted, but parity is not about asking for more. It’s asking to be treated equally under the law,” Cipolla said.

Thom Forbes, one of the speakers who is a “fourth generation” alcoholic in recovery and whose wife and daughter "are challenged" by depression and chemical dependency, urged support for Timothy’s law so that mental illness and addiction disorders “be covered under health insurance policies in the same way that other physical illness” such as heart disease or diabetes is.
“According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in five children have behavioral, emotional or mental health problems,” said Assemblywoman Amy Paulin. “Families should not be forced to exhaust their financial resources to access mental health services they can afford,” she told rally supporters.

Deirdre Forbes (Thom’s wife) credited her recovery from clinical depression and addiction as “proof” that treatment works and urged Senate leadership to pass legislation that includes coverage for small businesses and chemical dependency. “Compromise is not a solution; it is a death sentence for many,” she said, referring to the state Senate’s parity bill that eliminates coverage for addiction and eating disorders.

Assemblyman Adam Bradley said, “Its time for New York to join the other 35 states who have
parity laws,” and pointed to the lobbying influence of HMOs and healthcare companies with record breaking profits in perpetuating the cost argument against mental health parity legislation.

Tom O’Clair, Timothy’s father, also spoke out at the White Plains rally and has been the commanding force in driving Timothy’s Law legislation. He and his family have campaigned across the state since their son’s death to bring attention to the financial discrimination in health insurance coverage that has forced, according to a CBS news report, over 12,000 families in one recent year alone, to formally relinquish custody of their children in order to secure them state-paid mental health services. “The lack of parity cost my family Timothy. Tell me to my face that you can put a price on that,” O'Clair says.