health care. i mean, for years we had people receiving medicare without parity, where they paid a higher rate for mental health care than they did for their traditional healthcare rates. but as far as how the aca is going to play out in terms of improving mental health care and substance abuse, too, i think we are still trying to figure out where we are at the table. i just came from louisiana yesterday and we had a several-day discussion about how do, especially in the smaller states that are not so well organized, how do we get to the table to work out these details about how under-integrated health care, that mental health is not going to still be kind of a stepchild. and deb, for someone in the community that is working with the individuals that need to get into recovery and that are currently in a treatment program or that are in recovery from substance use or mental disorders, what is the major point that we need to share with those individuals? well, i just have got to start by saying one in four families has somebody with a drug and alcohol problem and this is a fatal, it's a progressive,

14 we have former representatives patrick kennedy and jim ramstad will be discussing the mental health parity act and on april 4 we have doctored deepak chopra founder of the chopra foundation and the chairman of the chopra center for well-being and second i would like to present our guests with a traditional mug. >> oh boy. thank you very much. [applause] >> i have one last question. you talk about being, all of the should be prepared and i would like to know what you have in your red-tagged? >> i have the king of ready bags. i have you know a set of clothes, first aid equipment extra batteries, extra chargers, couple of good books and the phone number and e-mail address of everybody i'm going to have to be in touch with if i ever have to use that ready bag. all of you all should have a ready bag as well. alright, thank you. [applause] >> i want to thank all of you for coming out today. i would like to thank the national press club staff including the library broadcast center for organizing today's event and finally here's a reminder that you can find out more information about the national

health problems across the board. and of course our audience needs to realize that under the parity law small businesses of more than 50 people that are already covering certain conditions need to also cover mental health conditions as well, correct? correct, and some of your listeners may not realize that that has not been done before. and that is one of the reasons why parents struggle and why they may not talk to their young people at a younger age simply because they can't afford it. so what would you do as a parent? you have something you can't really talk to anybody about, you don't quite understand it yourself, and your doctor is saying to you, "well, if you want these services you've to figure out how to pay for it." our whole health care system now is changing and so will the health of our country. jordan, given your experiences and the fact that you speak to parents, that you speak to populations within school systems, what do you think the communities really need to begin to do better in order to address some of these issues? i think that one thing, and i mentioned earlier, was that kids need to feel and you

samhsa also has a web site on health reform and within that web site we talk about parity, we talk about the health homes, we talk about the grant opportunities that i just talked about and a variety of other issues as well. final thoughts, deb, in terms of what consumers need to know and what they need to do? well, the opportunity here is huge, but the challenge is how do we set it up so the law is enforceable? again, i am looking at benefit books that don't reflect the parity act yet and the aca is coming down the pike soon. well, it's already here. we have to find some way to catch all of this and put it down where the consumer opens a benefit book and there it is. patrick? and i think it actually even goes beyond that. i mean, i think in, and probably in the substance abuse community, but also in the mental health community, word of mouth is probably one of the best ways we have of getting information out. again, because we have these problems of- for instance, i worked in florida for a number of years and we knew that we only served about 49 percent of the people who really needed o

then we have patrick kennedy discussing the mental health parity act and on april 4, we de drepak chopra, and i would like to present our guest with the traditional npc mug. >> oh boy, thank you very much. [applause] >> i have one last question. you talk about that all of us should be prepared and i would like to know what you have you're ready bag. >> i have the king of ready bags. i have my set of clothes, first- aid equipment, extra batteries, extra chargers, a couple of good books, and the phone number and e-mail address of everybody i will have to be in touch with if i have to use that ready bag. all of you all should have a ready bag as well, thank you. [applause] >> i want to thank all of you for coming out today and i would like to thank the national press club's staff including the library and broadcast center for organizing this event and here is a reminder that you can find more information about the national press club on our website. if you like to get a copy of today's program, please check out our website www.press.org and i would like to thank you very much. we are adjour

health. he and any parity for treatment of addiction. minnesota has been a leader in addiction treatment and we are very proud of that. in minnesota, we have seen drug courts do pretty good -- do very good things. we talked to you return on investment, both in your opening statement in response to senator kohl. and part of this is recidivism. we found a minnesota that drug cards are less likely to be arrested for another client has offenders prosecuted in traditional court and this of course with an equivalent kind of arrest senator. i want to after seeing that trend nationwide in terms of recidivism. >> with respect to recidivism. one of the primary things that make them affect what is the impact on me or just depends. and so 84% of graduate school of counter the program remained drug-free. after graduating after the first graduation. with respect to the two-year mark, two years after 73% of those participants have not had not been rearrested are charged with any serious crimes. so this is true consistently with respect to the research

health services. tribes were denied full access to the source of financing until the recovery act created a limited on offering. based on that experience, the treasury released a report in december recommending the governmental parity tribal nations because it works. this will bring huge economic benefits to tribes and surrounding regional economies. education is another example where flexibility can prepare our children for the global marketplace. the cherokee nation's language tool formed formed an innovative partnership with apple computer's to integrate in the cherokee language. >> they develop cherokee language software for use on mcintosh computers and iphones and ipods and ipads. students even chat on line in cherokee with students from the eastern band of cherokee's in north carolina. this is a powerful example of tribal innovation and the type of innovation that is vesting tribes with greater authority over our gnome print -- programs. whether it's economic development -- [applause] whether economic development or are education, health care or energy, the key to getting it right is the freedom to identify and tear down barriers to our success. tribal leaders carry with us a dream. it's a dream passed down

health services. tribes were denied full access to this source of financing until recovery act created a limited bond offering. based on that experience, the treasury released a report in december recommending governmental parity for tribal nations because it works. this will bring huge economic benefits to tribes and surrounding regional economies. education is another example where flexibility can prepare our children for the global marketplace. the cherokee nation's lynch which -- language emergence school board a partnership with toppled to implement technology in the cherokee language. they developed cherokee language software for use on a macintosh computers, iphones, ipads. students chat on line in cherokee with students in north carolina. this is a powerful example of tribal innovation and initiative, the type of innovation that comes from greater authority over our own programs. [applause] weather in economic development, education, health care, or energy, the key to getting it right is the freedom to identify and tear down the barriers to our success. tribal leaders carry with us a dream. it is a dream passed down from our parents and grandparents. it does not afford to 2012 or 2016. it looks to the