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Action Alerts
Congress Must Continue Push for Vital Health Care Reforms
Need for Access to Care and Quality Reforms Hasn’t Changed -- Congress Must Not Change Course!
Tell Lawmakers to Act Quickly (1/25/10)
Call-In Today to Prevent Harmful Use of Restraint and Seclusion in Schools (1/21/10)
Congress Near Completion of Health Care Overhaul (1/14/10)
Rules on Travel with Emotional Support Animals Are Discriminatory (12/8/09)
Senate Set to Debate Health Reform; Calls to Your Senators Matter Now (11/24/09)
Supportive Housing Bill Needs Senate Sponsors (11/10/09)
House Set to Vote on Health Care Reform Legislation (11/4/09)
Call Your Senators to Ensure Long-Term Services in Health Care Reform! (10/21/09)
October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (9/30/09)
Mental Health Parity Regulations Due Soon; Please Help Secure Support for Their Timely Release! (9/15/09) (updated 9/23/09)
Please Join the Effort to Bring Security and Stability to the Insured and
Extend Affordable, Quality Coverage to the Uninsured (9/10/09)
Help Advance Healthcare Reform!
Your voice must be heard to counter the misinformation and untruths being perpetuated and to stimulate members of Congress to act. (8/11/09)
Why Confirming Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court Can Help Advance Disability Rights (7/22/09)
Five Things You Should Know About
Judge Sonia Sotomayor and Disability Rights (7/7/09)
Comments on the Mental Health Parity Law Due May 28, 2009 (5/26/09)
Will the Next Supreme Court Justice Support the Rights of People with Disabilities? Ask President Obama to be Sure She Does! (5/18/09)
Federal Agencies Seek Public Comments on the New Parity Law
Three U.S. Departments (Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS) and Treasury) have published an official request for public comments on the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 prior to developing and issuing regulations for implementation of the law. (5/6/09)
Senators to Vote on SCHIP This Week
Please call your Senators (1/26/09)
Ask Senators to Vote for Fair Pay
The Lilly Ledbetter
Fair Pay Act (S. 181) would eliminate barriers created by the Supreme Court
for people challenging pay discrimination, including discrimination based on
disability. (1/14/09)
SCHIP Vote by the House Likely This Week
Please urge your lawmakers to support it! (1/12/09)
Last Parity Push Needed
Please call your Senators and Representative now! (9/25/08)
Mental Health Parity in Upcoming Tax Bill
Calls to Senators Needed ASAP (9/16/08--updated 9/22/08)
Six Harmful Medicaid Rules Are Delayed
President signs moratorium in supplemental war-funding bill; advocates asked to thank Senators and Representatives (7/2/08)
Decision-Time for the ADA
Critical amendments headed for house vote this week (6/23/08)
End Abuse of Children in Residential Programs
Grassroots action is needed for approaching vote (6/10/08)
Calls Needed for Delay of Medicaid Rules
Grassroots advocacy is urgently needed to help secure the moratorium on the seven Medicaid regulations in the supplemental spending bill, approved before Memorial Day by both House and Senate in both versions of the Iraq supplemental funding bill. (6/2/08)
Negotiations on Parity Near Conclusion
Use the toll-free Parity Hotline, 1-866-parity4 (1-866-727-4894), to call your U.S. Representative and Senators. (5/20/08)
Vote
Imminent on Bill to Delay Harmful Medicaid Rules; Ask your
Representative to support H.R. 5613 (4/21/08)
Proposed
Federal Rules Expand Disclosure of Student Information
April 15, 2008--Comments due by May 8 on rules that could
erode privacy, and place at risk the confidentiality of
students’ mental
health information. Read
more...
Help Protect a Critical Medicaid Safety Net
March
20, 2008--Ask your Representative to support a moratorium on seven harmful CMS
rules. Read more...
House
Passes Mental
Health Parity
March 5, 2008--H.R. 1424 will now be reconciled with the Senate’s
Mental Health Parity Act of 2007 (S. 558). The Bazelon Center calls
on members
of both houses to quickly forge a meaningful compromise. Read more...
Urge
Your Representative to Attend ADA Restoration Hearing
January 23, 2008--Next Tuesday, January 29th at 9:30am, the full
House Education and Labor Committee will hold a hearing on the
ADA Restoration Act (H.R. 3195). All members need to hear the powerful
testimony. Read more...
Help Support Fair Pay for People with Disabilities
A recent
Supreme Court decision makes it virtually impossible
for many employees who experience pay discrimination to sue their
employers. The Fair Pay Restoration
Act, S. 1843, would correct this problem for victims of pay discrimination
based on disability, age, gender and race. Senators need to hear
now about the need
to enact this legislation. Read more...
New
Medicaid Case Management Rules Could Stifle Service Delivery (12/20/07)
Bazelon Center draft comments available as model (1/14/08).
Help
Make Mental Health Parity a Reality! On Friday,
December 7th, use the toll-free Parity Hotline, 1-866-parity4 (1-866-727-4894),
to call your Representative and Senators and leave a message urging their active
support for the mental health and addiction parity legislation. Read more...
Children’s Health Care at Stake;
Help Congress
Override the President’s Veto!
October 10, 2007—Congress
is poised for an October 18 vote to override the President’s
October 3 veto of the compromise bill to renew and expand SCHIP—the
program of health care for low-income children. H.R. 976, the Children’s
Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, would authorize $35
billion
over five years to provide healthcare coverage to roughly 10 million
children, about 4 million more than covered over the past 10 years. Read more...
Vote Imminent
on Children’s
Health Insurance
September 15, 2007--Today, the House of Representatives
will vote on the House-Senate compromise that would extend and
expand health
care coverage to low-income children through the State’s
Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). With President Bush threatening
to veto SCHIP legislation, it is imperative to garner a veto-proof
vote in both the House and Senate. Calls to Representatives are
needed now! Read more...
Support Community Choice
September 24, 2007-- "Expanding Options for Long Term Care” was
the subject of a hearing today before the Senate Finance
Committee, focused on the Community
Choice Act (H.R. 1621, S. 799). This legislation would be a dramatic
and welcome improvement for people who need a level of care
provided by a nursing home or
an institution
for
individuals
with mental illnesses. It
would require home- and community-based services and supports to
be provided as a mandatory Medicaid service. Read
more...
Comments
Needed on Revised Medicaid Rules; Changes Could Cripple Community
Mental Health
August 20, 2007--Changes in the rules
proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) to govern
Medicaid’s rehabilitation service
category could restrict access to intensive community mental health
services needed by children and adults with disabilities who rely
on Medicaid for their healthcare. Read more...
Support Needed Now to Restore ADA Rights
July 23, 2007--On July 26, the 17th anniversary of enactment of the Americans
with Disabilities Act, House Majority Leader
Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Congressman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) will introduce
the ADA Restoration Act of 2007 to correct serious problems in courts'
rulings on the law's protections. Please call your Representative now to
co-sponsor this critical legislation. Read
more...
Act Now to Stop Proposed Changes to Job Corps Health
Questionnaire that Discriminate Against People with Mental Disabilities
May
15, 2007--The Department of Labor (DOL) has published proposed
changes (April 3, 2007, Federal Register, Vol. 72, Number
63) in form EFA 6-53, the
health questionnaire used for enrollment in the Job Corps program. The changes
expand the questions to ask about the applicant’s mental health treatment
and whether the applicant has ever had certain specific mental health-related
conditions. The changes are particularly unnecessarily broad and stigmatizing,
and may deter people with mental illnesses from seeking necessary treatment.
Read more...
States May Alter Policies on Criminal Background Checks for Gun
Purchases
May 17, 2007--As a result of the publicity surrounding
the recent shootings at Virginia Tech, many states are re-examining
their
rules and practices for submitting the names of certain people
with mental disabilities to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s
list of individuals who are barred from purchasing a gun. Read
more...
Please
Urge Lawmakers to Co-Sponsor the Keeping Families Together
Act
February
12 , 2007—Ask your Senators and
Representative to co-sponsor the Keeping Families Together
Act (KFTA). The bill was introduced in the House by Representatives
Jim Ramstad (R-MN), Pete Stark (D-CA) and Patrick Kennedy
(D-RI) and by Senators Collins (R-ME) and Tom Harkin (D-IA)
in the
Senate. This bipartisan legislation is vital to address the
tragically common practice of child custody relinquishment
solely to gain access to necessary mental health treatment.
Read more...
Your Chance to Speak Out for a Federal Parity Law
January 22, 2007—Americans who have experienced mental illness or addiction have a chance to tell Congress about the need for equal access to health insurance in hearings around the country in coming weeks.The hearings are part of "The Campaign to Insure Mental Health and Addiction Equity," sponsored by Representatives Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI) and Jim Ramstad (R-MN). Take action!
For older Action Alerts, visit our Action Alert archive.
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