Heroes in Business - Patrick Kennedy former Congressman

Episode Date: December 20, 2024

Patrick Kennedy former Congressman is interviewed by David Cogan of Eliances Heroes radio show. Kennedy is the son of Senator Ted Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy. He and David discuss the epidemic of Opioid addiction and the campaign to decriminalize those recovering from the addiction. Kennedy also talks about his own struggles with addiction, the family legacy of being a Kennedy and more.

Welcome back to Alliances Heroes, where heroes in business align. To be part of our super community and find out more about Alliances, visit www.alliances.com. Now, back to our super host, David Kogan, founder of Alliances. What an incredible morning it's been. I mean, we had the President of the United Nations General Assembly on. We had the CEO of franchising that many brands, American Cookie Company, so many, so many. It's just unbelievable. But now let's talk about our next hero.

You will definitely recognize the last name of our next guest hero. Yep, he's a Kennedy. He's the son of U.S. politician Ted Kennedy, nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, and that's our next hero, Patrick Kennedy, who could be reached at opioidrecovery.org. Now, Patrick, you have and you continue to make your mark on the community as someone who spent 16 years as the former member of the U.S. House of Representatives. In fact, you were the lead sponsor on the Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act. Briefly describe, though, what that is. Well, thanks so much, David. Great to be with you. I'm really honored to be here with your

listeners. The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act is like a medical civil rights bill. It says that treatment for the brain cannot be separated from overall health care. In other words, depression, anxiety, addiction to opiates, addiction to alcohol, whatever it is, all of these issues need to be treated within the health care system, not as a part of a separate, unequal system of care. And so that is what this bill does, is it says that insurance companies must pay for treatment for, quote-unquote, mental health and addiction issues, which are brain illnesses, in the same way that they would pay for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer. That's what this law requires, insurance companies and the federal government.

And that's fantastic, but it was a challenge to get through, yet you kept going and going and you got it passed. How was the skills you feel that one needs to get something like this passed? How did you do it? Well, with a lot of help. That's how you get anything done. I was very blessed. My late father, Senator Edward Kennedy, pulled out all the stops just before he passed away. And he called on his Senate colleagues to take the bill that we had passed over in the House. He got

his good friend, Chris Dodd, to attach the whole toxic asset relief program. That's the $700 billion bailout of our nation's banks. He had that attached to our bill, which is the H.R. 1424, the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. So basically, our mental health bill became the vehicle for the largest federal bailout of our nation's banks to solve our economic crisis of 2008. That's how legislation is made, and that's how parity got passed. Now, Patrick, why was the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act so important to you? important to you? Well, mental illness and addiction and alcoholism is something I've dealt with my whole life as a family member growing up, watching my parents suffer, and also as a person who is now in recovery, but in recovery from both depression and addiction.

So this is obviously an issue that's very personal to me, and because so many people do not get access to treatment, as I have gotten access to treatment, I'm really saddened by the fact that most people don't get the kind of help that I was able to get. And that's something that shouldn't be allowed. And that's why I was so proud to author this bill and today fight to make sure that it's enforced. And you're listening to Alliance's Heroes. Be a hero with me, David Kogan. Go to where entrepreneurs align. Be part of the community. Alliances.com. That's E-L-I-A-N-C-E-S.com. And we have Patrick Kennedy, again, son of Senator Ted Kennedy, nephew of President John F. Kennedy. He's done so much. In fact, you're part of the opioidrecovery.org.

What is the mission associated with it, and how did you come to partner with both Newt Gingrich and Van Jones, who have also recently been on our show? Well, I obviously had the honor of serving with former Speaker Newt Gingrich. We obviously disagree on most issues of public policy, but a couple areas where we did agree was on the fact that we needed to treat these illnesses as the physical illnesses, the brain illnesses that they are, and we need to do so based upon what the latest science tells us, not based upon what our prejudices are. And I so appreciate having former Speaker Newt Gingrich as my partner on this. And Van Jones,

as you know, is such a terrific civil rights leader in our country. And he really has brought so much to this cause by illustrating that we need everybody involved in order to begin to wrap our arms around it. So what a team. And we're intending to help address this tragic epidemic of opiate, not only addiction, but overdose. I mean, I find this statistic shocking. Opioid overdose is now the number one cause of accidental death in America. I mean, I find this statistic shocking. Opioid overdose is now the number one cause of accidental death in America. I mean, how could that be? Well, it's a result of the fact that we don't treat addiction as we would any other illness. We wait until it becomes a stage four illness. If this were cancer, you'd screen it. And if you knew someone was at risk,

you wouldn't wait for that risk to become a full-blown illness and metastasize. You treat it early. But with addiction, we don't screen for it. And even if we know it's becoming a serious issue, we disregard it until someone's at death's door before we even begin to try to address it. That has to change. And as I said, all we need to do is treat this as we would diabetes or, you know, cardiovascular disease or asthma, any other chronic illness, and we'd make a big dent in this. I've got it.

So being a Kennedy carries a lot of weight and a big responsibility. In fact, it's a lot to live up to. You were elected seven times, reelected seven times, which is quite an accomplishment. What advice, though, would you have for children to be successful in such a competitive world? Well, the only way we can be successful is if we have a sense of ourselves and we have the ability to manage high-stress situations. I'm only learning how to do that in my own life, and unfortunately, there never was a guidebook to how to live growing up. I think today, if kids are growing up and wanting to be successful, learning how to deal with stress and how to negotiate a very complex world, that's the heart of their foundation of being able to build a successful career, no matter what area they choose to go forward with.

And Patrick, what would you say, you know, we talked about this, what would you say though about to your father, Ted Kennedy, uncle and uncle, former president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, now about how far you've come really and coming out with things like the opioidrecovery.org, being the co-founder of One Mind. What would you say to them now? Well, President John F. Kennedy really was the first president to really address mental health on a national level when he signed the 1963 Community Mental Health Act, it is remarkable to see how much of what he proposed is still before this country to act on. And most of the bipartisan legislation before the Congress, what's being supported by, you know, both parties is really to implement the vision of John F. Kennedy to create community mental health and addiction care so that people don't have to be hospitalized or institutionalized for basically untreated or undertreated mental illness and addiction. That's really the only reason why people end up

really in critical care is because they never were taken care of, you know, sufficiently at an earlier stage of their illness. So that's a big challenge. I'm happy that we're working on that. Patrick Kennedy, absolutely incredible. OpioidRecovery.org, a person who faces his own fears and overcomes adversity then goes on to support others in the struggle and fight for the community that's a hero that's patrick kennedy thank you again david cogan with alliances you have been listening to alliances heroes where heroes in business align alliances is the destination for entrepreneurs investors ceos inventors leaders celebrities and startups to present your superpower visit www.alliances.com. To unmask Alliances Heroes' secret identities,

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