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National Advocacy Needed on the Biden Mental Health Plan During the Congressional Lame Duck Session
Last week, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, asserted that “mental health is the worst health problem confronting our country.” We know this to be true. Today, only about 1 in 4 persons with a behavioral health condition receives any care. This is due to the growing prevalence of behavioral health conditions linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to the lack of availability of behavioral health providers throughout the country, and especially in rural areas.
President Joe Biden recognized this public health emergency in his State of the Union address in March and proposed several key measures to ameliorate it in the administration’s fiscal year 2023 federal budget. These include training of more professional and paraprofessional providers, including peers; expansion of parity to cover all health insurance, together with three mental health visits per year with no copays or deductibles; and extension of mental health care into community settings, specifically community centers, libraries, homeless shelters, and schools. This 10-year plan would add about $110 billion in new resources to the field.
Elements of this plan are being considered by the Senate and House. They likely will come up for vote in the lame duck session that will commence after Thanksgiving and conclude at the end of the year. The Senate is considering major mental health legislation that includes human resources and integrated care. The House has proposed $136 million for training, as well as several other bills now awaiting Senate approval.
The College for Behavioral Health Leadership recognizes the urgent need for advocacy during the lame duck session of Congress. It has produced a white paper on human resource and integrated care needs, as well as templates for letters and Congressional visits. You can learn more about these activities here.
The College also prepared a press release which was circulated broadly last week. I would like to quote from this press release:
“These recommendations were developed by CBHL members, who reflect a diversity of experience, expertise, and perspective from organizations representing service users, service providers, community-based organizations, advocates, government, associations, and more. They are intended to bolster current proposals by the Biden administration and congressional subcommittees to address America’s behavioral health crisis….”
“The current spotlight on behavioral health reform is an opportunity to think differently about wellness. Despite broad support from the White House and Congress, success requires actual legislation and funding. Transformational strategies should be grounded in equity and based on the lived experience of those receiving and delivering behavioral health care.”
I strongly encourage you to join in these advocacy activities during December. This is an exceptional opportunity to make your voice heard about the current needs of the behavioral health field. Because of the vagaries of the new Congress which will assemble in 2023, no assurance exists that a similar opportunity will be available to pass this essential legislation after the beginning of the year.
Ron Manderscheid, PhD, is the former president and CEO of NACBHDD and NARMH, as well as an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the USC School of Social Work.
The views expressed in Perspectives are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Behavioral Healthcare Executive, the Psychiatry & Behavioral Health Learning Network, or other Network authors. Perspectives entries are not medical advice.
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