Awesome news .. having been a NAMI member for years now, and doing my part in writing to whoever needed to hear our voice was well worth it .. being a citizen of NM , I often wrote to Sen. Domenici , at least once a month, and he often sent encouraging letters and information for me as to who else and what else to do ..
He is retiring this year and will be missed as he wrote ,and was a such a huge advocate for this bill ... agserra 
Go to www.nami.org. You can also just scroll to the bottom of this page and click on their logo in the lower left area of the page. On their site, in the left column, there's a "Register & Join" link. Annual dues of $35 makes you a member at the national, state, and local levels.
Teri
I am a mother with a child/young adult with ADHD, Bipolar Disorder and auditory processing deficeit. I really appreciate your hard work and I feel blessed to have law makers working in behalf of families who deal with mental health issues daily. My daughter is 20 years old and just had a child. I am meeting more and more people who cope with mental illness daily. THANK YOU and GOD BLESS YOU!!!
I am so glad to get this email which directed me to this story. This past year when our company decided to switch health plans, my boyfriend and I (who both suffer from bipolar disorder) were SOL! The new plan did not pick up mental health visits OR mental health medications. What a financial burden this was on us. I am so glad this bill passed.
Just want to make sure you understand that this bill does not mandate that group heralth plans have to cover mental health. It means that if a group health plan does cover mental health, that there cannot be limits on number of vsiits, differences in co-payments or coinsurance as compared to benefits for medical-surgical coverage.
Unfortunately, the Mental Health Parity Act has actually forced me to give up mental health coverage. While I do have a relatively good medical insurance plan through my employer, it has never included mental health coverage. My employer's mental health coverage was through a separate provider via our EAP (Employee Assistance Program). Under the EAP program, there was no annual deductible, no monthly premium, and each visit to the psychiatrist or psychologist cost me only a $25 copay. However, under the new Parity Act, my coverage will now cost me several thousands dollars for an annual deductible, and my coverage is now only at 80% + the $25 copay! This has now placed my mental health coverage out of reach in terms of affordablity. Due to this huge cost increase, my wife, who suffers from treatment resistant depression, feels she can no longer afford to see her psychiatrist for medication management nor see her psychologist for counseling. I fail to see how this is an improvement in either affordability or in accessibility. I would appreciate any advice or direction.
Let me add that this is NOT a corner case which affects relatively few employees. My employer has an employement base of approximately 20,000 people scattered over 4 states in the Southeastern US. They will all be negatively impacted my this "parity" in insurance coverage.
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I have just been reading about this...this is huge! I am so glad you are posting this. For those of us who need mental health treatment...this is such a relief. This surely is a victory.