Urge Congress to Support The Medicare Seniors Mental Health Access Improvement Act
- by: Liscensed Professional Mental Health Counselors and Mental Health Parity Advocates
- recipient: Legislators, Representatives, and Senators,
Lack of Access: Fully 50% of rural counties have no practicing psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers.
Burden of Disability: Senior citizens with chronic medical conditions and depression experience a significantly higher incidence of disability. Furthermore, according to the U.S. Surgeon General, disparity in access to mental health care is causing "racial and ethnic minority communities to bear a disproportionately high burden of disability from untreated" mental disorders.
Make Medicare a More Efficient Purchaser: Relative to patients who receive coverage from other federal programs or private health insurance, Medicare-eligible seniors are higher utilizers of inpatient psychiatric hospital services.
All of these problems have a single cause: senior citizens and minority Americans can%u2019t obtain access to mental health care. Do something about this problem by establishing Medicare reimbursement for LPCs. Co-sponsor S. 671 and HR 1693 today!
Please sign this petition and contact your legislators to urge support for 671/H.R. 1693, The Seniors Mental Health Access Improvement Act, which would establish Medicare coverage for licensed professional mental health counselors.
The Seniors Mental Health Access Improvement Act of 2009.
Dear Senator/Representative:
I am writing to strongly urge you to co-sponsor S. 671/H.R. 1693, The Seniors Mental Health Access Improvement Act, which would establish Medicare coverage for licensed professional mental health counselors. With the exception of a recent federal law that finally equalized outpatient co-payments for mental health and medical/surgical services, the baseline Medicare mental health benefit has not been updated in almost 20 years. This inaction has consequences.
Improve Access in Rural Areas and among Underserved Minority Populations:
Approximately 77 million older adults live in 3,000 mental health professional shortage areas. Yet over 50% of rural counties have no practicing psychologists, psychiatrists or social workers. It is shocking to note that fully two thirds of rural residents with mental illness symptoms receive no treatment at all. As a direct result of this lack of access, older Americans with chronic medical conditions and major depression (nearly 2 million senior citizens nationwide) have significantly higher rates of disability than those with either condition alone.
Similarly, in a report entitled "Mental Health: Culture, Race and Ethnicity," the United State Surgeon General noted that "striking disparities in access, quality and availability of mental health services exist for racial and ethnic minority Americans." A critical result of this disparity is that minority communities bear a disproportionately high burden of disability from untreated or inadequately treated mental disorders.
Making Medicare a Better Purchaser of Mental Health Care:
Inpatient psychiatric hospital utilization by elderly Medicare recipients is extraordinarily high%u2014particularly when compared to psychiatric hospitalization rates for patients covered by Medicaid, VA, TRICARE and private health insurance. To the extent that fully one third of these expensive inpatient placements are caused by clinical depression and addiction disorders, it is strikingly clear that additional community-based mental health services provided by licensed professional mental health counselors will reduce unneeded hospitalizations.
The bottom line is: lack of access to mental health care is increasing both the burden of disability on our senior citizens and minority communities as well as the financial burden on the Medicare program. Take action today. Co-sponsor H.R. 1693/ S. 671.
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