Mental Health Association of San Francisco Hails New Health Care Legislation
www.mha-sf.org
24 March 2010 – San Francisco, CA: The Mental Health Association of San Francisco (www.mha-sf.org) today hailed the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” signed by President Obama. The legislation will greatly expand access to mental health care and addiction treatment—particularly for the 32 million previously uninsured Americans who will gain access as a result. This will benefit the 18% of Californians who are currently uninsured.
“This health care reform legislation marks a tremendous step forward in our efforts to improve access to care for individuals with mental health or substance use conditions and in our advocacy for prevention of these conditions,” says Executive Director Belinda Lyons, Executive Director of The Mental Health Association of San Francisco, “Treatment for these conditions is recognized as critical to overall health by being included on the list of essential benefits that must be covered in new plans offered to the uninsured.”
The groundbreaking achievement last year with the enactment of the “Mental Health Parity and Addiction Treatment Act” (MHPAEA) firmly established that discriminatory limits on these conditions will no longer be permitted. The Mental Health Association of San Francisco is pleased to see the health care reform legislation carries this principle forward and extends the MHPAEA requirements beyond current law to health insurance plans offered to small businesses and individuals. These principles are also reflected in the expansion of Medicaid which would require those newly eligible to receive mental health and substance use services at parity with other benefits.
Access to care will also be improved due to insurance market reforms in this new law that will prohibit pre-existing condition exclusions, rescissions of coverage when people most need it, pricing premiums based on health status, and annual and lifetime limits on benefits. Currently, San Francisco has 35,500 Medi-Cal recipients.
The health care reform law will also establish a new requirement that coverage for dependent children must be available up to age 26 and will provide additional funding for school-based health clinics. Both provisions are critical in light of the fact that mental health conditions often strike during the adolescent and young adult years but most will not receive treatment until many years later, if at all.
The Mental Health Association of San Francisco places a high priority on prevention, particularly among children and youth, and thus we are pleased with the new requirements to cover preventive services as well as programs to support community-based prevention activities. MHA-SF also strongly supports the provision in this law that will eliminate the donut hole in the Medicare prescription medication coverage as Medicare is a crucial source of support for millions of people with behavioral health conditions.
Among the many other important new programs and reforms are initiatives to support education and training of additional mental health and addiction treatment providers and to improve coordination of care through a new state option for medical/health homes in Medicaid that includes individuals with serious mental health conditions among the priority populations.
About the Mental Health Association of San Francisco
The Mental Health Association of San Francisco (MHA-SF) is a nonprofit citizen’s organization founded in 1947 dedicated to improving the mental health of residents in the diverse communities of San Francisco through education, advocacy, research, and service. In all its programs, MHA-SF works together with people and families challenged by mental illness and with the agencies that serve them to promote prevention, access to services, leadership, and independence.
The Mental Health Association of San Francisco is an affiliate of the Mental Health Association in California and the Mental Health America. For more information, please call (415) 421-2926 or go online to www.mha-sf.org
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