ITEM FILE PHOTO
State Rep. Brendan P. Crighton, state Sen. Thomas M. McGee and, state Rep. Daniel F. Cahill, left to right, during a December 2016 interview at The Item.
It’s been 25 years since a Lynn woman named Patricia Lawrence vowed to channel her frustrations and fears about her daughter’s mental illness into a fight against insurance companies.
Desperate to pin down adequate insurance coverage to pay her daughter’s bills, Lawrence called on the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill to advocate for insurance reform and pushed to revive the Alliance’s Lynn chapter.
Lawrence went on to become a tireless advocate for insurance reform, crisscrossing the nation on speaking engagements and leading training seminars for emergency responders. Mental health awareness has come a long way since 1992 and many of the stigmas associated with depression, bipolar disease and other ailments have been eradicated.
But the insurance battle is still being fought and state Sen. Thomas M. McGee and state Reps. Brendan Crighton and Dan Cahill have joined the fight.
The trio identified mental health and behavioral health treatment as a flashpoint issue in 2017 for healthcare providers and insurance companies. Cahill succinctly defined the looming clash by outlining how expensive care related to diseases of the mind is likely to inspire legislation mandating certain types of coverage or increasing reimbursement rates for hospitals treating the mentally ill and behavioral health patients.
Lawrence took her fight for increased insurance reimbursements three decades ago to fellow parents of mentally ill individuals. Her daughter’s experiences included stays in mental health facilities and care that quickly piled up stacks of medical bills.
As a state representative, McGee worked with former Reps. Robert Fennell and Steven Angelo and former state Sen. Edward J. Clancy Jr. (also former Lynn mayor) to fight for insurance coverage for treatment of biological mental illness and other mental disorders.
Their legislation became law 17 years ago, signaling a victory for Lawrence, thanks to support from Lynn legislators.
McGee, Crighton and Cahill are not giving up the fight for expanded mental and behavioral health insurance coverage. They know the light shining on mental illness is much brighter than the one that shone 25 years ago on Lawrence’s daughter and other people. They are committed to doing what they can to ensure the light does not fade and grow dim.
They also know that the nationwide war on opiate addiction will not be won without a clear understanding of mental illness and health and societal factors contributing to drug addiction.
Lawrence said she often felt alone In her early days fighting for expanded coverage. But Lawrence and other coverage advocates count today in their push for expanded coverage on allies in the state legislature, including McGee, Crighton and Cahill.