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Spring Recess: Hunt for Cosponsors
and Increased Funding
Urge your Members of Congress to Support New House Parity Bill and
Increased Funding for FY 2003
Members of Congress are scheduled to be back in their home districts for
two weeks starting today, Friday, March 22. This spring recess is a
perfect opportunity to meet with your Senators and Representative because
it marks their longest break until August. NMHA urges you to set up
district
meetings to request that they support:
1. New House Parity Bill (H.R. 4066)
Rep. Marge Roukema (R-N.J.) and Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-N.J.) introduced
on March 20 a House bill that closely mirrors the Senate's
Domenici-Wellstone parity legislation. The bill was introduced with 6
cosponsors: Reps. Sherrod Brown; Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr; George Miller;
Charlie Norwood; Jim Ramstad; and Fortney "Pete" Stark. H.R. 4066
prohibits group health plans from imposing treatment limitations or
financial requirements on the coverage of mental health conditions unless
comparable limits are imposed on medical and surgical benefits. Contrary
to the claims of opponents, this is a balanced bill, which more than meets
any reasonable concerns in the business community. The bill exempts small
businesses, makes it clear that health plans may employ the full range of
managed-care mechanisms to contain cost, and does not require parity for
services a plan member might seek outside of the plan's network of
providers. Opponents have vigorously attacked provisions that permit no
discrimination among diagnoses -
characterizing the bill as "requiring treatment for the 'unhappy well,'"
while ignoring that parity would apply only to services that are
"medically necessary."
Needed Action: Urge Members of the House of Representatives to
co-sponsor the Roukema-Kennedy mental health parity bill (H.R. 4066) and
to push for enactment of the bill this year.
Contact your Representative by calling the parity hotline at
1-866-PARITY4.
Follow that up by sending (or, preferably faxing) your representative a
letter (sample letter below).
* See previous alert at
http://www.nmha.org/newsroom/system/lal.main.cfm.
2. FY 2003 Appropriations
The President's Budget for Fiscal Year 2003 is both disappointing and
troubling. Specifically, NMHA is deeply concerned about flat funding and
cuts under the FY 2003 spending plan for the Center for Mental Health
Services (CMHS). Overall funding for mental health services in real
dollars is declining even though research demonstrates that mental health
treatment is effective and beneficial for individuals, families and
society as a whole. State and county public mental health systems across
the country are clearly underfunded and overburdened. Even before
September 11, they could not adequately meet the needs of even adults with
severe and persistent mental illness and children with serious emotional
disorders. The systems are wholly unprepared to address the mental health
issues associated with the ongoing trauma of threatened domestic terrorism
or the toll on people whose lives are upended by the strains of
unemployment and recession.
The strains on mental health service delivery threaten to become dire as
many state and local governments, struggling with budget shortfalls,
debate severe cuts in services for people with mental illnesses. In many
areas, including nearby Montgomery County, MD -- one of the wealthiest
counties in
the country - the situation is already critical. Viewed in this context, a
budget plan that generally freezes or cuts the limited support for an
agency whose mission is "to ensure access and availability of quality
mental health services to improve the lives of all adults and children in
this Nation" is shocking.
Needed Action: Urge your Members of Congress (1.) to support
increased funding for mental health programs and (2.) to send a letter
(see attached) to the House and Senate Labor, Health and Human Services
Appropriations Subcommittee identifying mental health funding increases as
a priority.
Contact your Senators and Representative to set up a district meeting by
calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-225-3121. Follow that up by sending
(or, preferably faxing) them a letter (sample letter
below).
* See previous alert at
http://www.nmha.org/newsroom/system/lal.main.cfm.
_______________________________________________________
SAMPLE
PARITY LETTER
The Honorable________
House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Representative __________:
On behalf of the Mental Health Association of ___________, I am writing to
urge your all-out support for enactment this year of legislation to end
health insurance discrimination against people with mental illness. As a
first step, we ask you to co-sponsor H.R. 4066, mental health parity
legislation recently introduced by Reps. Marge Roukema and Patrick
Kennedy. The Roukema-Kennedy bill closely mirrors the Domenici-Wellstone
Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act (S. 543), which has 66 Senate
backers. I
also ask that you please contact Chairman Boehner and Chairman Tauzin and
urge them to move H.R. 4066.
Americans have come to appreciate the importance of mental health and the
stinging inequity of insurance barriers to needed treatment. Insurance
discrimination against people with mental illness cannot be justified
because:
-
Mental illnesses are real
and treatable illnesses.
-
Treatment for mental illness is effective,
with efficacy rates comparable or exceeding those for many medical and
surgical conditions.
-
There is no scientific or medical basis that
justifies insurance coverage of mental health disorders on different
terms and conditions than coverage for other illnesses or disorders.
-
Lack of access to mental health treatment
because of insurance discrimination results in untold human suffering
and costs our economy more than $100 billion each year through
absenteeism, turnover and retraining expenses, lower productivity and
increased medical costs.
-
Parity is affordable, as
evidenced by the experience of the Federal Employee Health Benefits
Program (which provides full parity for Members of Congress and their
families and staff) and the experience of the many states that have
enacted parity laws. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that
enactment of the Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act would increase
insurance premiums by less than 1 percent.
Insurance discrimination
against people with mental illness means lack of access to needed mental
health care. Each year, these barriers to care claim human lives.
Advocates have pressed for parity for 10 years. The millions of Americans
who have mental disorders-and those at risk for developing them-can wait
no longer. The time to act is now!
We look forward to working with you to achieve passage this year of
legislation to end health insurance discrimination against people with
mental illness.
Sincerely,
Mental Health Association of ________
_____________________________________________________
SAMPLE
BUDGET LETTER
The Honorable [insert full name]
[insert address, Senate/House] Office Building
Washington, DC 20510 (Senate)/20515 (House)
Dear Senator or Representative [insert name]:
On behalf of the Mental Health Association of _____, I urge you to support
funding increases for critical mental health services for Fiscal Year
2003. As you know, the Administration failed to provide adequate funding
in its budget for FY 2003 for critical programs designed to help people
with, or at risk of, mental illnesses and other disabilities. In response,
I hope you are able to make mental health a funding priority for FY 2003
by sending the enclosed letter or highlighting the need for increases for
mental health services in conveying your funding priorities to the
Appropriations Committee.
Our national mental health system is underfunded and overburdened. The
Administration's budget for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA) would cut $17 million in current funding for one
of its core missions - improved community mental health - and would
effectively cut, at a time of double digit health care inflation, most
other mental health programs through stagnant funding. Cutting
cost-effective, evidence-based prevention programs such as the Community
Action Grants and the Consumer Technical Assistance Centers, which can
avoid far greater future public health costs, would only compound the
mental health crisis we are currently facing. This budget does increase by
some eight percent funding for research by the National Institute of
Mental Health, but SAMHSA's efforts to apply NIMH research findings to
community practice will be sharply hamstrung by a shrinking budget.
To illustrate, the budget would level-fund such critical programs as the
school and community-based violence-prevention initiatives and the
Children's Mental Health Services program. And it would eliminate
altogether funding for Community Coalitions for the Prevention of Youth
Violence. Programs that address the emotional and behavioral needs of
youth, and engage parents, students, families, schools and communities to
work together are critical to preventing youth violence and promoting more
positive youth
development. And yet the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative and the
Youth Violence Prevention Initiatives are targeted for level-funding in
the Administration's budget.
These cuts in federal support are compounded by proposed reductions in
funding for juvenile justice prevention, housing supports, VA health care,
and school-based mental health services - including elimination of the
Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Program. This would simply
exacerbate the ever-increasing difficulty people have in gaining access to
effective mental health services. For millions across the country, a
budget laden with cuts, frozen funding, and termination of effective
mental health programs is an unwitting formula for despair, joblessness,
interaction with the justice system, poor academic performance, and even
suicide.
More than ever, we need your resolve to counter this grave outlook and
pledge your commitment to improve the availability, accessibility, and
quality of mental health services through increased federal investment in
federal mental health programs. We urge you to reject the proposed $17
million cut in SAMHSA funding for CMHS Programs; increase substantially
federal support for community-based mental health early intervention,
prevention and treatment services; and increase substantially funding for
the many other federal programs such as juvenile justice which face
problematic shortfalls in funding for programs vital to people with mental
health needs.
Thank you for your consideration of our views.
Sincerely,
Mental Health Association of _________
_____________________________________________________
MEMBER'S SAMPLE LETTER [to be sent w/
above cover letter]
April 1, 2002
The Honorable Tom Harkin
Chairman, Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education
Appropriations Subcommittee
123 Hart SOB
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Ralph Regula
Chairman, House Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education
Appropriations Subcommittee
2358 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairmen Harkin and Regula:
I am greatly concerned that public mental health funding in my home state
is under great strain [or substitute other characterization] and urge you
to make mental health a funding priority for Fiscal Year 2003. I am deeply
troubled about the Administration's failure to provide adequate funding in
its budget for FY 2003 for critical programs designed to help people with,
or at risk of, mental illnesses and other disabilities. I pledge to work
with you to increase funding for mental health programs.
I recognize the challenges you face in providing funding in connection
with domestic security. However, I believe that increased funding for
mental health services is consistent with our critical national goals. The
events of recent months have highlighted as never before that our mental
health is as vulnerable to attack as our physical well being. As Senator
Frist recently noted, "For the last 20 years we've neglected public
health," and have recently been shocked "into realizing how dependent we
are on the system."
The national mental health system is underfunded and overburdened. It
cannot and does not adequately meet the needs we faced before the events
of September 11th, and is wholly unprepared to address the mental health
issues associated with the ongoing trauma of threatened domestic
terrorism. The public mental health system is also entirely unequipped to
address the human toll on people whose lives are upended by the strains of
unemployment and recession. With all these challenges, already
overburdened mental health systems are further imperiled by state and
local budget shortfalls.
The Administration's budget for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration (SAMHSA) would cut $17 million in current funding
for one of its core missions - improved community mental health - and
would effectively cut, at a time of double digit health care inflation,
most other mental health programs through stagnant funding. Cutting
cost-effective, evidence-based prevention programs, which can avoid far
greater future public health costs, would only compound the mental health
crisis we are currently facing. This budget does increase by some eight
percent funding for research by the National Institute of Mental Health,
but SAMHSA's efforts to apply NIMH research findings to community practice
will be sharply hamstrung by a shrinking budget.
More than ever, we need your resolve to counter this grave outlook and
pledge your commitment to improve the availability, accessibility, and
quality of mental health services through increased federal investment in
federal mental health programs. We urge you to reject the proposed $17
million cut in SAMHSA funding for programs under its Center for Mental
Health Services, and to increase substantially federal support for
community-based mental health prevention, early intervention and treatment
services.
Thank you for working with me on this important matter.
Sincerely,
[Your Member of Congress]
cc: The Honorable Arlen Specter, Ranking Member, Senate Labor, Health and
Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee The Honorable
David Obey, Ranking Member, House Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education Appropriations Subcommittee
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