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National Mental Health Association Legislative Alert    
                          
Last Push Needed for Family Opportunity Act: Key Committee Action in Sight

November 7, 2001

The Family Opportunity Act (S. 321, H.R. 600), sponsored by Senators Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Representatives Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Henry Waxman (D-CA), continues to have strong bipartisan support and is included in this year's budget. Having strong support, S. 3 21 has 72 sponsors and H.R. 600 has 203 sponsors. 

This bill aims to help families who have children with disabilities to ensure that their children can get needed medical care through Medicaid. Many of these families have faced wrenching choices, and have turned down hard-earned jobs, promotions and pay increases, so that they can remain eligible for Medicaid coverage. Advocates have fought for several years to enact this legislation and now is the time to get this important legislation passed and signed into law. The Senate Finance Committee, a key gateway for this bill to be taken up by the full Senate, may mark-up the bill by Friday of this week. We are close but we still need your help!

What will this bill do?

1. Medicaid Buy-In: This bill will create a sliding scale Medicaid buy-in for families of children under the age of 18 with disabilities whose income exceeds the eligibility guidelines (up to 300% of
   the federal poverty level, $51,150 for a family of four). This would give these children access to the full range of Medicaid services, including those provided through the Early Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) program. Parents electing this coverage would make monthly payments on a sliding scale basis and their cost cannot exceed 5 percent of the family's income. In addition, these children would be eligible for Medicaid coverage from the first day they are presumed eligible for SSI, instead of having to wait a month after SSI eligibility is established.

2. Expand Psychiatric Services for Children: States would be permitted to include a home and community-based service Medicaid waiver program for children under age 21 who have disabilities which would otherwise require psychiatric hospitalization. This would include children
   that receive services from a residential treatment center to be served at home.

3. Demonstration Program: This demonstration program, subject to a $100 million payment cap, would allow states to extend Medicaid coverage through 2007 to children under 21 years of age who have "potentially severe disabilities" (such as a mental condition which, without treatment, would become severe enough to qualify for SSI).

4. Family-to-Family Health Information Centers: These centers would help families to make informed treatment decisions that are appropriate for their children with disabilities.

We need your help!

The Senate Finance Committee may mark-up the bill as early as Friday of this week. We need to raise the pressure on the Senate and the House to urge them to vote and pass this greatly needed legislation for children with disabilities and their families. 

Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the appropriate office. If you have a personal story of how this would help your child or a child in your community, be sure to share it with your members to illustrate how this bill will help the Member's constituents. Also, we encourage stories and/or letters of support to be faxed to Member's offices (see http://thomas.loc.gov/) to get contact information). We want this bill to be passed as a "clean" bill without any other legislation attached. 

We are particularly targeting the following:

• Senators Daschle and Reid (Democratic Leadership)

• Senator Baucus (Democratic Finance Chairman)

• Senators Ted Kennedy and Charles Grassley (Senate Bill Sponsors)

Please contact your members of Congress today. Families are waiting for
these much needed health and psychiatric benefits for their children.

For more information regarding the Family Opportunity Act, please contact Frances Andrew, Assistant Director of Legislative Affairs, at fandrew@nmha.org or (202) 675-8387.