WASHINGTON – Medicare recipients currently receiving mental health outpatient services stand to be affected by the payroll tax legislation passed by Congress today. As a result of the new law, which President Obama is expected to sign, payment for Medicare outpatient psychotherapy services will be cut by 5 percent beginning on March 1. “Some of the [...]
WASHINGTON—The American Psychological Association praised today’s U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling upholding a U.S. District Court’s 2010 decision overturning Proposition 8. APA had filed a brief in the case (Perry vs. Brown) providing the scientific research relevant to the association’s support for marriage equality for same-sex couples. Proposition 8 took away the right [...]
Following Congressional Hearing, Government Accountability Office (GAO) Recommends Strengthening Data on Child Fatalities to Improve Prevention and Reduce Deaths WASHINGTON, DC (June 13, 2011) A congressional hearing held on July 12 about child deaths due to maltreatment called on national experts to explain why the number of child deaths has been undercounted. The hearing coincided [...]
Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) and the office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) are calling for including brain trauma rehabilitation services as essential benefits in the health reform law. Pascrell, co-chair of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, urged Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to ensure the most effective care is provided under the [...]
Suicide prevention programs targeting at-risk youth would get more money under bipartisan legislation introduced by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). The measure would authorize the federal government to award up to $45 million annually to help states and institutions prevent youth suicide. Included the legislation are portions of Durbin’s Mental Health on College Campuses Act, which [...]
Social Work Bills in the House and Senate are Reintroduced on World Social Work Day WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Congressman Edolphus “Ed” Towns (NY-10), with the support of other professional Social Workers in Congress and national organization leaders, launched a Congressional Social Work Caucus, and reintroduced the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work [...]
Colorado legislators are seeking to limit the number of inmates with mental illness who can be placed into solitary confinement. The legislation would require state prisons to have a physician evaluate inmates with such illnesses as bipolar mood disorders or paranoid schizophrenia before they’re placed in solitary confinement. A state report found that the percentage [...]
A Massachusetts law requiring doctors to offer routine mental health screening to all children in the state’s Medicaid program has resulted in an increase in the rates of those screened, according to a study of the program. From 2008 to the first quarter of 2000, the percentage of children screened increased from 17 percent to [...]
Washington—Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a precedent-setting 5-4 decision, reversing a May 2007 ruling of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, and holding that the imposition of the death penalty for child rape violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and its Louisiana Chapter filed [...]
On March 5th the House of Representatives passed landmark comprehensive legislation requiring private health insurance plans to use the same treatment limitations and financial requirements for mental health and addictive disorder coverage as is used for other covered services. H.R. 1424, the “Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007,” introduced by Representatives [...]
ARLINGTON, Va. (March 13, 2008) – The American Psychiatric Association applauds recent Congressional efforts led by Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., to improve treatment for the large number of people with mental illnesses and substance use disorders who are currently incarcerated in U.S. jails and prisons. The U.S. Senate passed the Second Chance Act (H.R. 1593) [...]
Arlington, Va. – Managed care health plans for Medicaid patients with schizophrenia and other severe mental illnesses may result in lower costs to the Medicaid system, but lead to greater personal expenditures and higher caregiver burden for patients and their families, new research indicates. This cost pattern was revealed in an analysis of total societal [...]
Only a few legislative days are left in the current session of Congress, and ACA and other mental health advocacy organizations are working to push mental health and addictive disorder parity legislation over the goal line. A very strong parity bill -H.R. 1424, the “Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act” – has been [...]