Alliance Alert: TODAY IS ELECTION DAY! In this revised version, here are 3 comparison of the mental health policy proposals advanced by former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Please read them closely and ask others to do the same.
You can find your nearest voting place at https://www.vote.org/polling-place-locator/
If you haven’t voted already, make sure you get to the polls today!
As the legendary disability rights leader Justin Dart said “VOTE as if your life depends on
it—Because it DOES!”
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Compare the Candidates on Health Care Policy
Excerpts by the Alliance for Rights and Recovery
KFF (formerly The Kaiser Family Foundation) October 8, 2024
MENTAL HEALTH
Donald Trump
- Proposes a return to mental institutionalization, stating, “for those who are severely mentally ill and deeply disturbed, we will bring them back to mental institutions, where they belong” — moving away from longstanding policies that provide treatment and living in community settings.
- Supported repeal of the ACA and cuts to Medicaid, which would reduce coverage and access to behavioral health services, and issued an executive order to expand non-ACA-compliant short-term policies that often limit or exclude mental health services.
- Signed pandemic legislation (CARES Act) that included an expansion of Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs), signed legislation that established the 988 hotline, and issued an executive order on veteran suicide.
Kamala Harris
- As vice president led the White House’s Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis, which has taken steps to address maternal mental health, such as launching the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline, training providers on maternal mental health and substance use disorders, and calling on states to expand and extend Medicaid postpartum medical and mental health coverage.
- The Biden-Harris administration made investments to expand mental health and substance use treatment, including to children and families and underserved populations, and to address the mental health workforce shortage by increasing licensing flexibilities for social workers.
- The administration supported and enacted the Safer Communities Act, which included provisions to increase school behavioral health services (building on the administration’s American Rescue Plan Act) and strengthen state requirements for behavioral health care for Medicaid-enrolled youth, in response to worsening youth mental health.
- The administration enhanced behavioral health access opportunities for Medicaid enrollees by establishing maximum appointment wait times, surveying enrollee experiences, and adding rate transparency policies, which may result in improved rates and more provider participation.
- The administration expanded the Medicaid CCBHC Demonstration by adding 10 new states to the program.
- The administration enhanced crisis care by building up 988 and mobile crisis services, and released the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, with focus on high-risk groups (e.g. LGBTQ+, veterans, moms).
https://www.kff.org/compare-2024-candidates-health-care-policy/
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Trump vs. Harris: Where They Differ On Medicare, Medicaid and Mental Health
Lilo H. Stainton, Health Care Writer | October 24, 2024 | Health Care, NJ Decides 2024, Politics
…A big divide on mental health
The candidates’ approach to mental health care also sets them apart. Harris led the Biden administration’s work to create a mental health crisis blueprint, which calls for training more sociologists, therapists and other health care providers and expanding mental health coverage, among other things. The Biden administration also worked to prevent suicide and enhance mental health offerings in schools, according to KFF’s comparison.
As president, Trump signed a law that established the national 988 hotline — a single point of entry for people in behavioral health crises — a measure that the Biden administration put into practice. Both Trump and Harris have called for the expansion of community-based behavioral health clinics, a program that has proven to extend patient care.
Trump’s platform also outlines “Agenda 47: Ending the Nightmare of Homeless, Drug Addicts and Dangerously Deranged,” a plan he announced in 2023 to “rid the cities from the scourge” of homeless people with serious mental illness. He pledged to work with states to ban “urban camping” and require violators to receive “treatment and rehabilitation” or face arrest. He also called for a return of “mental institutions” to treat people with serious mental illness or who are “dangerously deranged.”
“Our once-great cities have become unlivable, unsanitary nightmares, surrendered to the homeless, the drug addicted, and the violent and dangerously deranged. We are making the many suffer for the whims of a deeply unwell few,” Trump is quoted on his website.
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Trump, Harris on Mental Health: 5 Things to Know
Rylee Wilson – Becker’s Behavioral Health August 20th, 2024
..Here is what former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee and Ms. Harris have said about mental health:
Former President Donald Trump
- Mr. Trump has proposed institutionalizing unhoused people with mental illness. In a video posted on his campaign website in April 2023, Mr. Trump said his administration would ban urban camping wherever possible, and get people with substance use disorder and common mental health conditions into treatment.
“And for those who are severely mentally ill and deeply disturbed, we will bring them back to mental institutions, where they belong, with the goal of reintegrating them back into society once they are well enough to manage,” Mr. Trump said. - While in office, Mr. Trump supported the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, which would remove mental health coverage as an essential health benefit for marketplace plans. The law also requires insurers to cover preventive care, including mental health screenings, at no cost to members.
In November, Mr. Trump said he planned to replace the ACA if he wins a second term. In August, a Trump campaign spokesperson told The New York Times that “President Trump is not running to terminate the Affordable Care Act. He is running to make healthcare actually affordable.” - In 2020, Mr. Trump signed the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, which designated 988 as the universal number for the national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline.
- In 2018, Mr. Trump signed an executive order directing the VA, the Defense Department, and the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate access to mental healthcare and suicide prevention for veterans. The order was designed to focus on veterans in their first year separating from military service. In 2019, Mr. Trump ordered the establishment of the Veteran Wellness, Empowerment and Suicide Prevention Task Force.
- Mr. Trump signed the CARES Act in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The law included $425 million for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The CARES Act also expanded Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics and allowed the Department of Veterans Affairs to expand mental health services via telehealth.
Vice President Kamala Harris
- As vice president, Ms. Harris led the Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis, which included launching the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline, and investments in training on mental health and substance use disorders for maternity care providers.
- The Biden-Harris administration expanded the Medicaid Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics to 10 additional states. The 2024 Democratic National Committee platform calls for permanent funding for Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics.
- The administration supported and signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which included $185.7 million in funding for organizations providing mental health support to children and families, and block grants to all 50 states to support mental health crisis response.
- The administration led the implementation of 988, which received around $125 million in additional funding from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. The DNC platform calls for continued investment in the 988 lifeline.
- In 2023, the administration proposed tougher mental health parity standards for insurers. The proposed rules would close a loophole in the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act that excludes non-federal government health plans from parity standards. President Biden is “calling on Congress to expand Medicare’s coverage for mental health care, applying the same parity protections to Medicare beneficiaries,” according to the 2024 DNC platform.