March 29th, 2010
On Tuesday President Obama signed the health care reform bill into law, then on Thursday the budget reconciliation measure making final changes to the bill passed both in the Senate and House. The final House vote was 220 to 207 and the Senate vote was 56 to 43, with the Republicans unanimously opposed in both chambers. The reconciliation bill makes numerous revisions, including: changes to the subsidies that will help moderate-income Americans afford private insurance; changes to the Medicare payroll tax that will take effect in 2013 to help pay for the legislation; delays the start of a new tax on high-cost employer-sponsored insurance policies to 2018 and raises the thresholds at which policies are hit by the tax; makes changes to close the gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage known as the doughnut hole; clarifies a provision requiring insurers to allow adult children to remain on their parents’ insurance policies. Many of the changes were intended to address the concerns of House Democrats, as well as to bridge differences between the original House and Senate bills and to incorporate additional provisions sought by President Obama. For a more complete overview of health care reform, please go to www.oacbha.org and click on Health Care Reform.
Have a great week!
Cheri L. Walter
Chief Executive Officer
Tags: behavioral, BH, complete, health, health care reform, medicaid
Posted in CEO Minutes, Health Care Reform |
March 25th, 2010
On Tuesday, President Barack Obama signed the health care reform bill, known as the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.” The House vote took place on Sunday with a narrow vote of 219 yeas to 212 nays to approve the Senate language in H.R. 3590. Less than one hour later they also approved the H.R. 4872, the “Reconciliation Act of 2010″ in a vote of 220 yeas to 211 nays, containing language which amends the Senate language accommodating some of the House proposals and making changes to fund the legislation. Key provisions in the health care reform bill designed to expand health care to 32 million uninsured include: eliminating denial of coverage based upon a pre-existing medical condition; requiring most Americans to buy insurance beginning in 2014 (families with incomes up to $88,000 would receiving government help to defray costs); and large businesses would face fines if they did not offer certain levels of coverage to their workers.
The Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, has stated his goal is to pass the final changes to the package in reconciliation by the end of this week. Republicans in the Senate will likely seek to make changes to this smaller reconciliation bill. This would send the reconciliation bill back to the House for another vote.
H.R. 3590 Provisions Taking Effect Soon
- Prohibits insurers from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions (6 months after enactment – beginning in 2014, this prohibition applies to all persons).
- Prohibits plans from imposing lifetime limits on coverage (6 months after enactment)
- Eliminates co-payments and deductibles for preventive care under new plans (6 months after enactment and applies to all plans beginning in 2018)
- Establishes a temporary reinsurance program for early retirees to help offset costs of expensive health claims for employers that provide benefits for retirees age 55-64 (effective 90 days after enactment)
- New independent appeals process established so that consumers in new plans have access to an intern and external appeals process (6 months after enactment)
- Requires that individual and small plans spend 80 percent of premium dollars on medical services, and large plans spend 85 percent. (effective January 1, 2011)
- Interim high risk pool program established so Americans who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition have immediate access to insurance (effective 90 days after enactment)
- Young people covered up to 27th birthday on parents’ insurance (effective 6 months after enactment)
- States will get assistance to help individuals file complaints and appeals (effective FY 2010)
- Small business tax credits created (effective calendar year 2010 and increase to cover 50% of premiums in 2014)
- Begins phase-out of Medicare Part D Donut Hole (effective calendar year 2010 and completely closes the donut hole by 2020)
- No more Medicare co-pays or deductibles for preventive care (effective Jan. 1, 2011)
- Increases funding for community health centers (effective Jan. 1, 2011)
- New investments to increase the number of primary care doctors (fiscal year 2010)
- Creates new voluntary public long-term care insurance program (Jan. 1, 2011)
Tags: health care reform, HR 2590
Posted in Health Care Reform, Up to the Minute |
March 22nd, 2010
Sunday night March 21, 2010 the House voted to concur with the Senate bill on national healthcare reform, passage of the bill occurred with a 219 – 212 vote. This reform will surely change how healthcare including alcohol, drug addiction and mental health treatment are funded and provided. Based on the bill as passed, beginning in 2014 almost 94% of all Americans will be covered by healthcare, and with federal parity addiction and mental health treatment will be covered as well. However, even with healthcare reform no insurance includes the support services that individuals with a severe addiction and/or severe and persistent mental illness need in order to truly recover and live a productive life in the community. So while we will all need to step back and see what the passage of this bill means for behavioral healthcare in Ohio, we will also have to ensure that we help Ohio’s leaders and others understand what recovery truly is, and what is necessary for an individual to recover, and why it is so important.
Please stay tuned to the OACBHA web site, as over the next few days we will have much more on the bill as passed and what it means for individuals in need of addiction and mental health treatment. We will also continue over the next several months to develop messages that can be shared with all of Ohio’s citizens and leaders on what recovery is, what supports are needed to make it possible, and how we will ensure that these supports are available and provided to individuals with an addiction and/or mental illness.
Have a great week!
Cheri L. Walter
Chief Executive Officer
Tags: health care
Posted in CEO Minutes, Health Care Reform |
March 15th, 2010
We have heard so much about healthcare reform the past year and how it’s going to pass soon, that it is getting hard to believe it may be coming soon. Based on this past week it would appear that we will have an answer one way or the other as to if it will pass in the next couple of weeks. Once we have an answer, pass or not we are all going to have to take a good long look at alcohol, drug addiction and mental health services and how we ensure that Ohioans will have access to the treatment and recovery supports that they need. With the economy having been so bad the past couple of years we have experienced cut after cut to behavioral health services. If we hadn’t had the increased Federal match in Medicaid many more services would have been cut. What we need to be looking at now is how will state and federal health care reform impact our services, and how will we ensure that individuals with a severe mental illness and/or addiction get not only the treatment services they need, but the recovery support services as well.
Over the next several weeks I plan to look at access to behavioral health services and the impact that healthcare reform, or lack thereof will have on Ohioans’ access to services.
Have a great week!
Cheri L. Walter
Chief Executive Officer
Posted in CEO Minutes, Health Care Reform |
March 11th, 2010
The push for the enactment of health care reform legislation continues this week, with President Obama making appeals to certain House Democrats, as well as general appeals to the public. The two-step approach now being pursued calls for the House to approve a Senate-passed bill from last year, despite several House Democrats opposition to some of its provisions. Both houses then would follow by approving a companion measure to make changes in that first bill.
Tags: democrats, health care, Obama
Posted in Health Care Reform, Up to the Minute |
March 11th, 2010
A bill to mostly reauthorize spending on current bricks-and-mortar capital projects has been introduced (HB 462). The bill also includes some new appropriations and other spending adjustments. Behavioral health advocates are making the case that funding to restore some of the previous cuts should be on the list of adjustments made in the bill. The message is that Ohio can save lives and money by investing wisely in behavioral health.
Mental Health Funding Request
As you may recall, statements were made by the House and Senate at the conclusion of the HB 1 process that $65 million had been restored above the Governor’s framework. However, this number included $36 million in Medicaid spending authority which advocates challenge is in effect phantom money to the system because there was no corresponding appropriation. We are asking that the General Assembly move $36 million presently in the ODMH 635 Appropriations line to the 505 Community Treatment line and allocate it to local boards.
Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Request
Drug overdoses now exceed car accidents as the number one cause of accidental death in Ohio and opiate abuse has reached epidemic proportions. The downturn in the economy only adds to the need for more help to treat addiction as people turn to drugs and alcohol in response to the economic stress. Subsequently, liquor profits are at an all time high. Increase the percentage of existing liquor profits that support ODADAS from 1.5% ($4.4 million) to $2.5%. Also add language to clarify that casino gambling profits earmarked for addiction cannot be used to supplant state funding for community alcohol and other drug treatment.
A vote is expected in the House in the next six days. Advocates are encouraged to contact Speaker of the House Armond Budish, Senate President Bill Harris, Rep. Vernon Sykes as House Finance Chair, Senator John Carey as the Senate Finance Chair, as well as their Senators and State Representatives. Legislators will likely respond that they are keeping the focus of the bill narrow, but we cannot afford to miss an opportunity to advocate! Contact information for legislators is available at http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/.
Tags: behavior health, bill, health care, odadas, odmh, Ohio
Posted in Health Care Reform, Up to the Minute |
March 8th, 2010
I asked someone what I should write about this week, and she said, write about something happy for a change, so I thought about this and decided that would be a good idea. It seems all too often in our field as of late, that it’s all about what we don’t have vs. what we do have.
The fact is, there are some really positive things occurring in the behavioral health field. For one, levies in our field have been passing at a rate of 75-80% over the past few years. To me this indicates that even in this down economy Ohioans still value their local behavioral healthcare systems, and believe that individuals with a mental illness and/or addiction deserve treatment. Secondly, look at all of the newer medications available for individuals trying to recover from an addiction and/or mental illness. Many of the drugs today allow individuals to recover and lead productive lives in the community. So even as we fight to reduce stigma and discrimination, and to increase access to treatment we need to remember that we do so from a strong foundation of recovery and community based alcohol, drug addiction and mental health services in Ohio!
Have a great week, spring is almost here!
Cheri L. Walter
Chief Executive Officer
Posted in CEO Minutes |
March 1st, 2010
  Vol. Six, Issue III
Download: March 2010 One Pager
Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) is a form of pharmacotherapy and refers to any treatment for a substance use disorder that includes a pharmacologic intervention as part of a comprehensive substance abuse treatment plan with an ultimate goal of patient recovery. Particularly in the case of opioid addictions, patients find…
Tags: addiction, Alcohol, Medication, NIDA, Ohio, opioid, Tobacco, treatment
Posted in One Pager |
March 1st, 2010
You might be thinking, what kind of title is this? Frankly, for me it’s a serious question. As I told you about several weeks back, we completed a phone pre-survey prior to kicking off our OF-1-MIND campaign, and I can not stop obsessing on a fact that we learned. 63% of all Ohioans surveyed stated that they were impacted by having a friend or family member with either a mental illness and/or addiction. Think about that; that’s two out of every three Ohioans whose lives have been affected by someone with a mental illness and/or addiction. So what have I been obsessing about? If two thirds of all Ohioans have been affected by someone with an addiction or mental illness, why aren’t Ohio’s elected officials paying more attention to the issues of mental illness and addiction? It seems to me that if an issue affects 2/3rds of all of your constituents that this is an issue you would definitely want to address! So I ask what am I missing? I don’t know the answer to my question, but what I do know is this; it’s time that we insist that OUR legislators pay attention to this issue.
To learn more about the OF-1-MIND phone survey go to www.OF-1-MIND.org.
Have a great week!
Cheri L. Walter
Chief Executive Officer
Posted in CEO Minutes |
March 1st, 2010
The Center for Community Solutions recently released their latest edition of State Budgeting Matters, discussing federal health care reform scenarios and their possible implications across Ohio’s Medicaid program. To read the report, visit http://www.communitysolutions.com/images/upload/resources/ sbmv6n1.pdf .
Tags: medicaid, State Budgeting Matters
Posted in Health Care Reform, Up to the Minute |
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