NYAPRS Note: Look once more for much discussion and debate in Congress next year on mental health related issues. Over the past few months, NYAPRS has joined with a growing coalition of system reform and disability rights groups in preparation for the launching of vigorous, well developed and sustained campaign that will push strong voluntary, community based and effective measures to help the most distressed individuals and families.
Mental Health Bill Seen As Ripe For Revival Next Year
By Melissa Attias, CQ Roll Call December 3, 2014
The 113th Congress is almost certain to wrap up without action on comprehensive mental health legislation, but the sponsor of a bipartisan House bill is pledging to “revise and revive” his proposal next year.
Pennsylvania Republican Tim Murphy said he is reviewing the wide-reaching measure to see what needs to be clarified after getting feedback from lawmakers, families and professionals. The goal is to introduce an updated version early next year, he said.
Although the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee held a hearing on the bill in April, the measure stalled after it attracted pushback and Arizona Democrat Ron Barber introduced a competing bill with solely Democratic support. Murphy said his Oversight subcommittee, which hosted a number of events on mental health, understood the breadth of the issue, but that the challenge of communicating his message more broadly was apparent at the Health Subcommittee hearing.
“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, these people have no idea what we’re talking about,'” Murphy said. “This is really about helping families, helping patients, helping them change their lives.”
Laurel Stine, director of congressional affairs for the American Psychological Association, said one factor was that Murphy introduced his bill late in the first session, leaving only half of the 113th Congress for its review. The measure is also large in scope — falling under several committee jurisdictions — costs money (though a formal score hasn’t been released) and wasn’t fully embraced by the mental health community as a whole, she said.
Andrew Sperling, director of federal legislative advocacy for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said the bill — which attracted37 Democrat and 76 Republican cosponsors — lacked the consensus that he thinks Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., wanted to see.
But Stine said things could improve next Congress if conversations continue and compromises can be reached. Her group has some concerns with both the Murphy and Barber bills but wants to see comprehensive mental health legislation passed.
“It’s just a matter of political will and whether there is money to pay for all these reforms,” she said.
Barber’s House seat is the subject of a recount, leaving his return to Congress for the 114th in doubt.
Although Republicans never introduced a Senate companion to Murphy’s bill, GOP control of both chambers could give it more momentum. Co-sponsor Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., won a Senate seat and another GOP co-sponsor, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, could join her depending on the results of a Saturday runoff.
Still, Murphy emphasized that he’s looking for Democratic collaboration on the measure. “I don’t want this to be a political issue,” he said. “This has to be based solely on what is good for millions of Americans who suffer from severe mental illness and mental illness.”
A House Republican aide said the revised bill is expected to maintain key provisions focused on serious mental illness, some of which have attracted criticism. The measure will continue to support assisted outpatient treatment programs, under which certain people with serious mental illness receive court-ordered treatment while living in a community. And it will include provisions addressing the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a Medicaid payment exclusion and privacy rules under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
“The reason that prisons have filled up and homeless shelters have filled up and hospital emergency rooms have filled up and cemeteries have filled up is serious mental illness is untreated,” Murphy said.
But Mental Health America, which supported the Barber bill and not the Murphy measure, wants Congress to take a different approach next year. Senior Director of State Policy Debbie Plotnick said her group expects to see more comprehensive legislation directed at having earlier interventions and a continuum of care rather than “looking only at the extremes,” noting that even the Barber measure was not complete enough in her view.
“We hope that the next set of bills that we see will be more holistic,” Plotnick said.
While Congress included two mental health treatment pilot programs in a one-year “doc fix” to avert Medicare payment cuts to physicians earlier this year, lawmakers appear poised to end the session without further action. Asked about the option of moving other pieces of his bill in the lame duck, Murphy said nothing would happen before the end of the year.
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