New Mental Health Care Provisions

“The Affordable Care Act 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,” said David Shern, Ph.D., president and CEO of Mental Health America.

“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 beginning in 2014.”

Dr. Shern said several key provisions that take affect on September 23 will improve the lives of millions of Americans with mental health and substance use conditions. These include:

Children under the age of 19 can no longer be denied coverage based on a pre-existing condition. (This provision will be extended to adults in January 2014.)
If a parents’ plan provides coverage for dependent children, it is now required to cover children up to age 26.
Insurance companies can no longer set limits on the dollar amount of health benefits that they will cover in a year or over an individual’s lifetime.
All new plans must offer co-payment- and deductible-free preventive services, including depression screening for adolescents and adults.
The groundbreaking enactment of the “Mental Health Parity and Addiction Treatment Act” (MHPAEA) firmly established that discriminatory limits on mental health and substance use conditions will no longer be permitted. The Affordable Care Act 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 the 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.

The requirement that coverage for dependent children must be available up to age 26 and additional funding for school-based health clinics 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.

Mental Health America is announcing new changes in the world of insurance which is the result of years advocacy.


"Mental Health America places a high priority on prevention, particularly among children and youth, and recognizes the critical importance of the requirements to cover preventive services and support for support community-based prevention activities.

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.

Additional information on how the Affordable Care Act affects mental health treatment and services is available at: http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/go/action/policy-issues-a-z/healthcare-reform."

Suicide Prevention in Rockford, Illinois

Working with the State of Illinois Coalition on Suicide Prevention, Our local group called "Rockford Preventing Suicide" has been holding training sessions in the past year with Church people, nursing home employees and with NIAAA staff who work with senior citizens.

We use a slide program that demonstrates suicide data, suicide stories and Depression patterns. Once we do that introduction to the issue of suicide, we enter a personal discussion of how Depression creates suicide thoughts and how those thoughts feel and the painful nature of it. Part of that is the nature of feeling judged and how that triggers those painful feelings.

As we move through these ideas, we suggest that everyone can learn how to come alongside persons who are or may be suffering Depression. That is the reason for people to attend our training. As the State program states, the first goal is to teach people to "ask" about the painful feelings of suicide and death.

Each attendee gets to ask us questions about all of this. We realize some may be quite uncomfortable as soon as they think they might actually ask the question. We spend time assuring attendees of the validating value of asking, but asking in a knowing and skillful manner. Our confidence about all of this is borne of the U.S. Air force successful program for suicide prevention developed in 1992. The CPR program is another experience that informs us of how to learn to "ask."

After we lead the training group through the preparations of ideas, then we role play back and forth so that each person gets to play the depressed, suicidal person as well as the helper. We intend to convey that careful "asking" is conferring HOPE and that is a loving thing to do.

We hope to persistently promote the concept that all us can be helpful this way if we learn and intend to help. It is the idea that Suicide prevention is a community activity.

Funding Crisis July 2009

If you live in Illinois, please contact your legislator and ask for full funding of social services. With the economy if trouble, poor people and people with disabilities are really bearing the brunt of the problem. The period between now and July 14th is a critical time for speaking out.

This is not to minimize the pain and suffering of jobless people. It is simply asking for the first priority of reinstatement of funding to be directed toward the sickest and poorest.

Thank you for your advocacy.

Group Hope Meetings

Rockford
Mondays; 6:30 - 8 PM
Bethesda Covenant Church
2101 E. State St.
Enter from side lot and go downstairs.

Tuesdays; 6:15 to 7:30 pm at Rosecrance Harrison Campus, 3815 Harrison Ave. Drive to main entrance parking, Look for Group Hope sign, enter, sign as visitor, look for Sign to our meeting room nearby. 815 398-9628

Thursdays; 10 - 11:30 AM
Carpenters Place
1149 Railroad Avenue

Thursdays; 6:15 - 7:45 PM The Rockford School of Medicine 1601 Parkview Ave. Enter there or from Pelham, go to new entrance, sign as visitor, walk into library, turn left to Room A115.

Sundays; 4:00 pm to 5:30
Central Christian Church
6569 Guilford Rd. (near Midway Village)

Belvidere
1st and 3rd Tuesdays 5:45 - 7:15 PM
Immanuel Lutheran Church in the Crown Point House
1045 Belvidere Rd
Enter the school library from East 2nd St.


Rochelle
Mondays; 6:30 - 8 PM Rochelle Community
Hospital on 2nd Street in downstairs private dining room
phone number: 815 901-5338 Ralph Carr