Lawmakers’ Omnibus Hopes For Mental Health Policies
Politico December 5, 2022
With another week of deal-making on the Hill ahead, one health issue is increasingly being discussed: mental health provisions.
Republicans and Democrats alike told Ben and your host that mental health is a target to be included in an omnibus deal — and that conversations were ongoing last week.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) told Pulse he looks to get his Mental Health Reauthorization Act of 2022 included in the package, and Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) told Axios he was confident an addiction treatment package would be added as well.
Several others, across parties, chambers and committees, have generally emphasized the need to address mental health in a year-end bill. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) told Ben last week that his health staff is working on a mental health policy and they might have more details about the measures to share soon.
Special interest groups also have asked leaders on the Hill to include a number of mental health provisions.
Several provider groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians and the American Psychiatric Association, sent a letter Friday to congressional leaders , asking for legislation that promotes the integration of primary care and mental health, boosts the behavioral health workforce and ensures parity in mental and other health coverage.
And the American Hospital Association sent a recent letter to Congress, addressing mental health, asking leaders to strengthen the care workforce, loosen regulations for psychiatric facilities and change payment policies around behavioral health.
Some of those asks are included in legislation introduced earlier this year — places congressional aides suggested looking to see where the conversation could go in the coming weeks.
Earlier this year, senators introduced three bipartisan discussion drafts of legislation to tackle mental health, which suggested ways telehealth, Medicare and Medicaid could be leveraged in the future, among other things.
And one House bill, the Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act of 2022 , overwhelmingly passed, though the Senate has yet to vote on it.