Patrick J. Kennedy

The story in the curator’s words

Washington, May 2006

Washington. May 2006. Two forty-five in the morning. A congressman drives to the Capitol, believing he needs to vote. His car hits a security barrier. He is Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island, son of Senator Edward Kennedy.

Choosing openness

He said medication had disoriented him. Soon after, he said publicly that he was addicted to painkillers, and went into treatment. He had lived with addiction and bipolar disorder since his early teens. He said he hoped his openness would “give others the courage to get help if they need it.”

The parity law

Congress was writing a parity law. The Senate version left addiction out. The version he championed in the House put it in. He and colleagues held field hearings around the country.

In 2008 the law signed by President George W. Bush included addiction treatment. Insurers could no longer set stricter limits or costs on addiction and mental health care than on medical care.

He left Congress in 2011, and began his longest stretch of sobriety since age thirteen.

The Kennedy Forum

But a law on paper isn’t care. The final federal rules took five years. So in 2013 he founded The Kennedy Forum, to push the parity law into full practice. The help he hoped others would reach for now has to be covered, and the Forum he built works to hold insurers to that.