Bazelon Center Mental Health Policy Reporter

Volume IV : Issue 2 : October 7, 2005

Your donation to the Bazelon Center helps pay for the research, writing, editing and production that goes into every issue of the Bazelon Reporter. Please donate online today! Not a Subscriber? Sign up now to receive action alerts and updates from the Bazelon Center.

In this Issue

• Medicaid Services at Risk
• Relief for Katrina Evacuees
• Newsbytes
  • Republican Lawmakers Suggest Budget Offsets
  • Campaign for Mental Health Reform Roadmap
• New Feature: Syndicate Our News and Features

Medicaid Services at Risk

The postponed deadline Congress set for its budget reconciliation (October 19) is quickly approaching. The two committees responsible for finding offsets for the cuts proposed in the budget resolution (House Energy and Commerce and Senate Finance) plan to review their proposals the week of October 17.

The focus is on Medicaid. Of particular concern for people with mental disabilities are the Administration's proposed changes to targeted case management and the rehabilitation option. They would have a devastating impact. See the Bazelon Center's Action Alerts of September 9 and August 18 and a list of House and Senate targets.

Lawmakers must be urged again not to cut Medicaid but instead to delay budget reconciliation indefinitely.

Relief for Katrina Evacuees

The Emergency Health Care Relief Act of 2005 (S. 1716), sponsored by Finance Committee chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) and ranking member Max Baucus (D-MT), would provide 100 percent federal Medicaid matching payments for Louisiana, Mississippi and disaster-affected counties of Alabama B states with budgets already overwhelmed by evacuees' needs. The bill has yet to pass the Senate, even though it has the support of diverse national organizations, including the state Medicaid directors and the National Governors Association. However, the Administration has opposed the legislation, in particular questioning its proposed extension of Medicaid to childless adults and demanding that states share the cost.

More Resources

• Summary of the Emergency Health Care Relief Act
• Talking points on the Administration's proposed Medicaid mental health cuts
• Housing News: Katrina Evacuees May Be Housed at Others' Expense

Take action Now

Contact congressional offices with these messages:

1) Indefinitely delay budget reconciliation. Now is not the time to gut our nation's federal healthcare safety net.

2) Oppose any effort to alter Medicaid's targeted case management or rehabilitation services option because:

• Adults and children with serious mental disorders require a range of intensive, comprehensive community-based services in order to avoid institutionalization. Medicaid rehabilitation and targeted case management services are the vehicles for providing these services to people who are eligible for Medicaid.
• Medicaid's rehabilitation option enables states to offer a wide range of services that foster recovery and potentially improve individuals' ability to return to work.
• Targeted case management is used to help beneficiaries increase their daily functioning, residential stability and independence, and to reduce hospitalization. It links beneficiaries to necessary services and supports and monitors their status. States direct it to people with disabilities, such serious mental illnesses, who need an array of non-Medicaid supports in order for Medicaid services to be fully effective. The Administration claims that targeted case management is an administrative function. It is not. Rather, it is a service critical to an effective system of mental health care delivery.

3) Support the Emergency Health Care Relief Act of 2005 (S. 1716) to provide critical health care, housing and other disaster relief to the men, women and children displaced by Katrina B without depriving low-income people in the rest of the United States of the services and supports on which they depend.

Target members of the Senate Finance Committee on all the issues and the House Energy and Commerce Committee on budget reconciliation and Medicaid. If you're a constituent, be sure to say so.

To call other members of Congress on budget issues, the American Friends Service Committee has generously provided a toll-free number for use on two call-in days. Dial 800.426.8073 on October 17 and 18 to speak with your legislators in Washington.

On other days, you can call the Capitol switchboard, 202 224 3121, or go to congress.org to find the direct line for your Representative or Senator.

Email is less effective, but still counts, so if you can't call, use the email link you'll find on each lawmaker's page at congress.org.

Newsbytes

Republican Lawmakers Suggest Budget Offsets

The Republican Study Committee (RSC)—a group of over 100 conservative Republican Members of the House of Representatives—has put out a list of proposed cuts and changes to many federal programs (RSC Budget Options 2005, "Operation Offset". The group's idea is that these cuts, if enacted, would save approximately $139 billion next year to offset Katrina-related relief efforts while supporting further tax cuts. Many of the programs the group would slash provide key services to people with disabilities.

The list has drawn criticism from all sides. One of the options listed is delaying by a year the effective date for the Medicare prescription drug program, now slated to begin January 1, 2006. Many key Republicans leaders have objected to this option. They have also opposed cuts aimed at the highway-safety bill.

Among options listed are:

• block-granting Medicaid;
• increasing allowable federal limits on co-payments for Medicaid beneficiaries;
• eliminating subsidized loans to graduate students;
• increasing Part B Medicare premiums;
• eliminating the Legal Services Corporation;
• level-funding community health centers that provide help to medically underserved populations;
• eliminating coverage of childless adults in SCHIP.
  

Campaign for Mental Health Reform Releases Roadmap

The Campaign for Mental Health Reform, is an advocacy coalition of 16 national mental health groups, including the Bazelon Center. It was organized to promote the agenda put forth by the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, aimed at transforming the nation's dysfunctional mental health system to one oriented toward recovery. In a comprehensive report, the Campaign sets out a roadmap for federal action on America's mental health crisis: Emergency Response: A Roadmap for Federal Action on America's Mental Health Crisis

Responding to the Administration's proposal, the Campaign has sent an urgent letter to key lawmakers opposing the Medicaid cuts. Another letter to all members of Congress urges enactment of the Emergency Health Care Relief Act. Read both via http://www.mhreform.org/policy

Syndicate Our News and Features

With our new RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feeds, you can receive instant notification of new Bazelon Center alerts, updates, news releases and publications on our website. You can also automatically post links to new resources from the Bazelon Center on your own or your organization’s website. Find out more...

Fair Use Policy

Please feel free to forward our alerts as long as you credit the Bazelon Center with a link to our website: http://www.bazelon.org