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Federal Mental Health Parity Alert - 7/16/04 APA Practice Organization Action
Alert As you know, Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) recently agreed to waive his Health Committee jurisdiction over mental health parity with the understanding that he could offer one amendment to the bill (which we must oppose -- see below). So Senator Domenici asked for unanimous consent to bring parity directly to the Senate floor. The Democrats cleared the way for him to do so, but unfortunately certain Republican senators placed an anonymous hold on the bill. Both Senators Domenici and Kennedy continue to explore ways to move parity forward, either on its own or as an amendment to another bill. But, with Congress going on its summer recess on July 23 the Senate probably won't consider parity legislation until early September. We need to make the most of this break to reestablish our momentum and ensure that the Senate rejects the Gregg amendment. ACTION: We need to make sure that there are enough votes to defeat Senator Gregg's amendment. Since your Senators are likely to be back in the state for much of the August recess (July 24 to September 3), this is an ideal time to meet with them. But if your Senators are not available please request a meeting with their staff. While many of you have already had similar meetings earlier this year, please take this opportunity to schedule a follow-up meeting to urge your Senators to vote for the Domenici parity bill and against the Gregg amendment. Now that you have more information on the substance of the Gregg amendment your Senators will appreciate your dedication and follow through. TARGETS: PRIORITY TARGETS:
* indicates cosponsorship + indicates membership on Appropriations Committee BACKGROUND: Sen. Gregg will offer a cost exemption amendment (the full text is attached). Such an amendment would exempt group health plans from providing parity coverage for mental health care if they say their health plan costs would increase by more than 1%. This would be a devastating amendment because it allows employers to project prospectively, unlike the current parity law that requires plans to implement parity and, only after real experience, retrospectively calculate the cost. And, because the Congressional Budget Office projection of the average cost of the Domenici/Kennedy Substitute is 0.88%, our sponsors and our coalition believe that far too many people would be exempted by a 1% cap. The Gregg amendment would open a massive loophole. The Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act expands the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 by prohibiting group health plans from imposing treatment or financial limitations on mental health benefits that are different from those applied to medical/surgical services. The legislation applies only to group health plans already providing mental health benefits and does not cover alcohol and drug abuse treatment. The bill's sponsors continue to push for prompt passage of parity legislation. In fact, during last week's debate on the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act (on suicide prevention), Senator Domenici chastised those Senators who placed an anonymous hold on the parity bill and are preventing the full Senate from considering this important legislation. Many thanks to all of the Federal Advocacy Coordinators who continue to do a terrific job with their media outreach. Please let us know if you have additional coverage that we can add to the list below. MATERIALS: RECENT MEDIA COVERAGE ON PARITY: Supportive Editorials: Henderson Dispatch (NC) on suicide bill, 7-9-04 http://www.hendersondispatch.com/articles/2004/07/09/news/opinion/opin01.txt St. Paul Pioneer Press, 6-16-04 http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/editorial/8929961.htm?1c +St. Louis Post Dispatch, 6-13-04 http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/Editorial+%2F+Commentary/537E03362196F4D186256EB10038BF6D?OpenDocument&Headline=MENTAL+HEALTH%3A+Politics+and+parity&highlight=2%2Cmental%2Chealth%2Cparity +Hartford Courant, 6-4-04 +Des Moines Register, 6-3-04
Newspaper Articles/Columns: The Oregonian, 7-9-04 http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1089374712234660.xml Salem Statesman Journal (OR), 7-9-04 http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=83225 Associated Press, 7-8-04 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Youth-Suicide.html Reuters on suicide bill passage, 7-8-04 http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-congress-suicide.html?ex=1090374353&ei=1&en=12488efb4a6e4e43 Kennebec Journal on Collins hearing, 7-8-04 http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/802733.shtml +Ft. Smith Times Record (AR), 7-6-04 http://www.swtimes.com/archive/2004/July/04/business/mental_health.html
Op-Eds/Letters to the Editor: +Psychologist op-ed in Denver Post, 7-12-04 http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~158~2260882,00.html +Psychologist op-ed in Portsmouth Herald (NH), 6-3-04 http://www.portsmouthherald.com/news/06032004/letters/19580.htm Bornemann op-ed in Wash. Post, 5-29-04 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64708-2004May28.html +Psychologist letter in Scranton Times Tribune (PA), 5-28-04 http://www.scrantontimes.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=11815402&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=415898&rfi=8 +Psychologist op-ed in Centre Daily, State College, PA, 5-26-04 http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/opinion/9010866.htm +Psychologist op-ed in Oakland Press (MI), 5-22-04 http://theoaklandpress.com/stories/052204/opi_20040522009.shtml + Indicates FAC involvement Advocacy
Update - 3/22/02 I have been following the discussion on the
list serve and sympathize with the emotional dialogue. However, psychologists do
not need to organize to recreate the wheel. APA and OPA wheels have been rolling
for some time, creating exactly the kind of relationships that you are
discussing (with legislators, the press and economic decision-makers.)
Systematic advocacy is slow and frustrating and some of you may wish to advocate
"outside the box." Even if you ultimately become an "outside the
box" person, advocating for psychology within established APA and OPA
systems will teach you about the barriers to effective health care reform. Some
simple suggestions for action: 2. Talk to him (or her) about the Health Care Fairness Act, which would legalize group negotiations of the sort that are being discussed on the list-serve. There is material on the website. 3. Contribute to the PAC, so that someone else can talk to your Rep or Senator. Psychologists are the lowest political contributors (behind physical therapists, nurses, speech therapists, etc) and it shows. 4. Talk to Jim Brush about the network of psychologists he has established to work with reporters. 5. Work with Dick Rynearson on the Healthy Workplace program ( which is a vehicle to talk to our real "customers": the HR directors.) 6. Contribute to the Association for the Advancement of Professional Psychology for their national advocacy. 7. Go to fundraisers for your Reps and Senators and get to know them. Bobbie Celeste is a whiz at providing briefings so that you will feel up to speed. These folks are just regular people who will actually come to you for information, if they know you. Rep. Chuck Calvert came to my office and heard first hand from my billing staff about their frustration. So did Rep. Dale Miller. Rep. Sally Kilbane met Jack Brunner and I in Borders Bookstore. 8. Support Glenn in his struggle to take legal actions against companies through Project Fair. 9. Understand that we are all part of the same profession. Public sector changes impact private sector and vice versa. Practice issues impact academic psychology and vice versa. Fee for service providers and those of us who accept managed care have simply found different ways to survive. Let's not kill our colleagues with friendly fire. As we used to say in my misspent youth, "If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem." Organized psychology has had successes with the Medicare audits, with Prompt Pay, with the Spada bill, with the QualChoice payment problem of several years ago, with prescriptive authority in New Mexico, with graduate medical education funds and in a number of other areas. If everyone puts their shoulder to the wheels that are already rolling, we will continue to make progress. Suzanne LeSure |
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