Advocate for Your Patients And Profession
A reception for all supporters of APAPAC, APA's political action committee, will be held during APA's 2006 annual meeting in Toronto on Saturday, May 20, at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto. If you are not among that number yet, then please join your colleagues in supporting the PAC by going to its Web site at<www.psych.org/members/apapac/index.cfm>.
Also during your stay in Toronto, stop by the APAPAC suite at the Royal York and help make APAPAC an integral part of APA's campaign to educate Congress about the needs of the profession and your patients.
APAPAC provides APA members with a direct opportunity to support the election of federal candidates who will best advocate for psychiatry's interest in Congress. In this election year, psychiatry will face crucial challenges in Congress, and it is essential that we have the opportunity to meet with and inform key legislators deciding a host of issues that will affect your practice. Among them:
Opposing expansion of prescribing privileges to nonphysicians on the federal level; such privileges are being sought within the Indian Health Services program. | |||||
Preventing arbitrary exclusion of the full range of psychotropic medications under Medicaid and the new Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit. | |||||
Supporting efforts to block scheduled cuts in Medicare payments. | |||||
Opposing draconian cuts to Medicaid programs. | |||||
Repealing the ban on benzodiazepine coverage under Medicare Part D. | |||||
Stopping marriage and family therapists and mental health counselors from stretching Medicare finances to cover independent reimbursement of their services, while Medicare beneficiaries continue to face 50 percent coinsurance payments for all mental health services. | |||||
Ending insurance discrimination against people with mental illness. | |||||
Your PAC support enables APA to continue to increase education and lobbying efforts to key legislators on these and other issues that confront our practice and patients.
More information about APAPAC is posted in the “Members Corner” section of APA's Web site at<www.psych.org/members/apapac/index.cfm> and is also available from Jason Pray by by e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at (703) 907-8581.
