AMHCA Midwest Region MWR:
Message From Julie A. Clements, J.D.
Dear Janice,
Please post this attachment midwest.pdf to your region website with the instructions that these "Midwestern Region" House Armed Services Committee members need to be contacted by email or phone this week to ask that they cosponsor, H.R. 3839, the House version of the TRICARE bill which would permit, if passed, all LMHCs to practice independently under TRICARE.
TRICARE_Rep._Letter.doc
We cannot get this moving further, and into the National Defense Authorization Act, unless we have more people signed on as cosponsors. I'm also attaching a template letter I've drafted that they can share with their U.S. House members. This attached list reflects members from your Midwestern region who sit on the House Armed Services Committee (IA, MO, IN,OH, etc). I ask all Midwestern Region AMHCA members to contact their U.S. Rep, whether or not he/she sits on the HASC, and ask for his/her cosponsorship of H.R. 3839.
Please make it a goal to get this done this week. Your membership need not write a long email or have a long phone call. The message is simple: "Support our troops' immediate access to outpatient mental health professionals, by cosponsoring H.R. 3839. As a mental health counselor constituent from _____, this is very important to me, and it will be when I go to the polls this November. Thank you."
Thanks so much!
Julie A. Clements, J.D.
Director of Legislative Affairs
American Mental Health Counselors Association
Health Care Reform on Life Support:
Continue to Lobby U.S. Senators for LMHC Medicare Eligibility in Final Reform Bill
Alexandria, VA – January 22, 2010 – In the wake of Scott Brown’s ascendancy to the late Edward M. Kennedy’s Massachusetts Senate seat, Senate supporters of health care reform lack the 60 seats necessary to surmount a filibuster by health care reform opponents. To remain viable, health care reform will assume a new shape. AMHCA and its legislative coalition members continue to push for inclusion of LMHC Medicare eligibility in any final health reform package. LMHC Medicare eligibility has the support of numerous House members, House committee leadership, and House leadership.
Over the past few weeks, discussions between House and Senate staffers have revealed increased support among U.S. Senators for LMHC Medicare eligibility. AMHCA is grateful for its members’ overwhelming outreach to U.S. Senators. As a product of your lobbying efforts, a growing number of Senators are placing LMHC Medicare eligibility on their health care reform radar screens. AMHCA asks its members to continue to lobby their U.S. Senators for LMHC Medicare eligibility.
Today, the federal government reports there are 77 million Americans lacking access to mental health care. Many of these Americans are Medicare beneficiaries unable to access current Medicare outpatient mental health providers. Let your U.S. Senators know you stand ready, willing, and more than able to deliver outpatient “medically necessary” mental health care to these Medicare beneficiaries.
Ask that your U.S. Senators support The Seniors Mental Health Access Act of 2009 and its inclusion in any final health care reform bill sent to President Obama for a signature. Please call the Capitol Switchboard at (202)-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your U.S. Senators’ offices. Make sure your U.S. Senators know LMHC eligibility is necessary to the achievement of Medicare cost savings and enhanced mental health access.
Contact Julie A. Clements, J.D., AMHCA Director of Legislative Affairs, at jclements@amhca.org or 1-800-326-2642 if you have further inquiries.
