Senators Kerry, Snowe Fight to End Mental Health Discrimination in Medicare

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WASHINGTON, D.C.--(ENEWSPF)--February 24, 2010. Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) today introduced legislation to end discrimination against Medicare patients who suffer from mental illness.

Current Medicare beneficiaries are restricted to 190 days of inpatient psychiatric hospital care throughout their lifetimes, directly limiting the care they are eligible to receive. This arbitrary cap on benefits discriminates against the mentally ill as there is no such lifetime limit for any other Medicare specialty inpatient hospital service. The Medicare Mental Health Inpatient Equity Act will eliminate this limit and equalize Medicare mental health coverage with private health insurance coverage.

“This arcane and outdated policy runs counter to every battle we’ve fought to equalize mental health care in this country,” Sen. Kerry said. “Seniors living with mental health illnesses should not be forced to suffer without treatment because they’ve maxed out on the number of eligible days of care randomly set by Medicare. I’m grateful to have Olympia Snowe as my Republican partner in this effort, and we will work together to finally end this discriminatory practice.”

“Despite the tremendous inroads we have made in ending the discriminatory treatment of higher copayments for mental health services under Medicare, it is abundantly clear that we still have barriers to overcome,” said Sen. Snowe. “Eliminating the lifetime cap on inpatient psychiatric hospital care takes another critical step in ending the unfair distinction between physical and mental disorders. This legislation will better ensure that seniors are receiving care in the right place at the right time.”

Forty eight national organizations have endorsed the Medical Mental Health Inpatient Equity Act including AARP, the American Hospital Association, the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems, and the American Psychological Association.

The full list of organizations is below:

AARP
AFSCME
Alliance for Retired Americans
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry
American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
American Association of Pastoral Counselors
American Counseling Association
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention/SPAN USA
American Group Psychotherapy Association
American Hospital Association
American Mental Health Counselors Association
American Nurses Association
American Occupational Therapy Association
American Psychiatric Association
American Psychological Association
American Psychotherapy Association
Anxiety Disorders Association of America
Association for the Advancement of Psychology
Association for Ambulatory Behavioral Healthcare
Center for Medicare Advocacy
Clinical Social Work Association
Clinical Social Work Guild 49, OPEIU
Emergency Nurses Association
Families USA
Federation of American Hospitals
Medicare Rights Center
Mental Health America
Military Officers Association of America (MOAA)
NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals
National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA)
National Alliance on Mental Illness
National Association for Behavioral Health
National Association for Children’s Behavioral Health
National Association for Rural Mental Health
National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders – ANAD
National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a)
National Association of Mental Health Planning & Advisory Councils
National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs
National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems
National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors
National Coalition of Mental Health Professionals and Consumers, Inc.
National Council on Aging
National Disability Rights Network
National Foundation for Mental Health
OWL, The Voice of Midlife and Older Women
Schizophrenia and Related Disorders Alliance of America
Therapeutic Communities of America

Source: kerry.senate.gov

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Senators Kerry, Snowe Fight to End Mental Health Discrimination in Medicare