Patrick J. Kennedy - Political Positions

Political Positions

He was a chief sponsor of one of the major pieces of legislation of 2008, the Mental Health Parity Act, a bill requiring most group health plans to provide coverage for the treatment of mental illnesses that is comparable to what they provide for physical illnesses.

He is a strong proponent of adding a comprehensive prescription-drug benefit to the U.S. Medicare and has consistently opposed attempts to privatize the Medicare program. Kennedy has also made numerous speeches advocating the reorientation of the U.S. health-care system to preventive care. He has received numerous awards for his health-care advocacy, including being named the recipient of the Lymphoma Research Foundation’s Paul E. Tsongas Memorial Award as well as the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Congressional Honors Award.

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