Public Policy Update

Washington, DC has had a few things happen since the last PRA Newsletter hit your inbox. On October 1, the first consumer interface of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) new Healthcare Marketplace went live to the public and has been riddled with technological difficulty. The controversy over the Affordable Care Act contributed to the shutting down of the federal government in early October. Now that the government is up and running again, Washington’s eyes and ears have been focused on ACA implementation; there have been hearings featuring testimony from high profile administration officials on Capitol Hill, ongoing media attention, and administration officials are working feverishly on both the policies and technical issues rising to the surface.

In addition to the ACA attention, members of Congress are working on two issues that will come again to the forefront in January as new deadlines approach: various aspects of the budget and appropriations process. At present, committees and budget conference appointees are hard at work on crafting a deal that will keep the government operating and pay our debts into 2014. Healthcare is a big part of that discussion. The healthcare discussion includes addressing the sequester cuts slated for 2014 and attempts to fix the perpetual challenge of physician payments under Medicare Part B, which is slated again for a cut this year unless Congress intervenes.  All of these very high level and nationally important issues will make it very challenging for Congress to pass other individual legislation this year or early next year.

PRA continues to support legislation that would:

• Establish federal status for community behavioral health organizations and adopt the Excellence in Mental Health Act.
• Support the Mental Health First Aid Act and promote public education on mental illness and addiction.
• Make behavioral health providers eligible for Health IT incentives under the Behavioral Health IT Act.
• Protect funding for mental health services in health care reform, Medicaid, and SAMHSA.

PRA will continue to partner with our allies in the mental health community to support these legislative and regulatory initiatives as we head into an end of the year with a limited number of legislative days remaining and challenging national issue at the forefront.