September 24, 2009

Senate Finance Comm. Releases Modification to Draft Bill that Includes CMHCs in Medical Homes Demo; Continues Consideration of Other Key Amendments

66 Representatives Sign on to House Parity Letter Requesting Agencies to Issue Regulations in a Timely Manner

Senate Finance Comm. Releases Modification to Draft Bill that Includes CMHCs in Medical Homes Demo; Continues Consideration of Other Key Amendments

After releasing the Chairman’s Mark of the America's Healthy Future's Act and members of the Senate Finance Committee had the opportunity to file amendments last week, the Committee began Mark-Up, or consideration of amendments, this week. After reviewing the numerous amendments that were filed, the National Council sent an action alert to members residing in states represented by Senators on the Finance Committee. This alert highlighted several amendments of interest to community mental health and addiction providers. If you reside in MT, WV, ND, NM, MA, AR, OR, NY, MI, WA, FL, NJ, DE, IA, UT, ME, AZ, KY, ID, KS, NV, WY, or TX and have not used our action alert to contact your Senator, there’s still time - Contact Your Senator Now!

Due to the overwhelming activity we have already seen from this action alert and other advocacy efforts, it is our pleasure to report the following:

• The Committee passed the Stabenow/Wyden/Kerry Amendment (C2) applying the Wellstone/Domenici mental health and addiction parity law to all benefit packages offered through the exchanges. 
• The intent of two amendments – one introduced by Sen. Bingaman and the other by Sen. Stabenow - pertaining to the State Medicaid Option Promoting Health Homes and Integrated Care have been met; Chairman Max Baucus released modifications to his draft bill that now include:
  • an expansion of the list of eligible providers for this demo to include community mental health centers (CMHCs) and
  • a clarification that Medicaid beneficiaries with “at least one serious and persistent mental health condition” are eligible to receive services through the demo.

Thank you to members who responded to our action alert. Stay tuned to the Public Policy Update to keep current on the status of other amendments of interest.

The National Council recently hosted a Health Care Reform Update webinar in which Chuck Ingoglia, Vice President of Public Policy, reviewed the Chairman’s Mark and filed amendments of interest. You can access this presentation online.

66 Representatives Sign on to House Parity Letter Requesting Agencies to Issue Regulations in a Timely Manner

The National Council would like to extend our gratitude to Representative Kennedy and to the 65 other Representatives that signed on to the official letter being circulated by Representative Kennedy requesting the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Treasury to issue regulations for the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 as soon as possible. With or without regulations, this Act goes into effect for most plans on January 1, 2010. Not having regulations issued in a timely manner, with clearly outlined implementation details, will greatly limit the intended positive impact of the Act.

Click here to see a final list of the signatories. If your Representative signed on to this letter, send him/her a thank you note to emphasize the importance of this issue. Not sure who your Representative is? Click here to find out.

We would also like to thank our members for responding to an Action Alert regarding this letter; over 300 advocacy messages were sent to Representatives on the three committees of jurisdiction: Energy & Commerce, Education & Labor, and Ways & Means.

The National Council will continue to monitor this situation and will take every opportunity to advocate for the issuance of regulations that meet the intent of Congress in passing the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.