Bush backs more mental health care coverage

President Bush yesterday generally endorsed a proposal to expand insurance benefits for mental health problems, promising to reach a compromise with Congress on legislation to require that policies cover mental illness as comprehensively as they do physical ailments.

''Our country must make a commitment: Americans with mental illness deserve our understanding, and they deserve excellent care,'' Bush said in New Mexico at the start of a two-day political swing through the West. ''They deserve a health care system that treats their illness with the same urgency as a physical illness.''

The president's pledge was not specific. The primary ''mental health parity'' bill now under discussion in the Senate would not force employers to provide workers with coverage for mental disorders. But larger companies that already offer limited mental health coverage would have to increase benefits to the same level as that for other medical and surgical treatment. Most Americans with health insurance receive the coverage through their employer.

In showing support for the Republican sponsor of that bill, Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico, Bush broke with many fellow Republicans who object to the immediate costs that the Domenici bill would impose on businesses and insurers - as much as $3.1 billion in the first year.

At a joint appearance with Domenici in Albuquerque, Bush did not endorse the senator's bill, a sign that tough negotiations over specific provisions still lie ahead this year. He also did not weigh in on the most controversial aspects of the debate - especially the notion, backed by many House Republicans, of limiting parity to diseases such as schizophrenia.

Bush used the terms ''compassion'' and ''compassionate'' four times in his 15-minute speech, a nod to the broader White House effort to recapture its ''compassionate conservative'' mantra as the president campaigns around the country for GOP candidates in the midterm elections. The message was especially relevant yesterday, as Bush traveled through New Mexico, a swing state, and on to California, which has just one Republican holding a statewide office. Along the way, Bush was expected to raise more than $4 million for two candidates, Bill Simon, who is running for governor of California, and Representative Heather Wilson of New Mexico.

Bush took care to bring a dose of domestic policy along on the trip, in part to counterbalance his recent focus on the crisis in the Middle East. After his speech at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, Bush was slated to fly to south central Los Angeles, the site of the 1992 race riots, to advance his vision of government funding for faith-based initiatives.

In his speech on mental health, Bush cited three obstacles to adequate care in the United States: the stigma associated with mental disorders; a fragmented health service delivery system; and unfair limitations on care imposed by health insurers.