APA Fights Hard Against Republican Health Care Bills
Abstract
APA is pulling out all the stops to protect Americans’ access to mental health/substance use care.
APA leadership and staff of the Deparment of Government Relations (DGR) have been working tirelessly to protect mental health coverage in a highly unpredictable health care reform process that threatens to harm millions of Americans.
Immediate Past APA President Maria A. Oquendo, M.D., Ph.D., joined physicians from five other medical organizations last month to meet with members of Congress and their staffs to voice opposition to the Better Care Reconciliation Act. Above, she shakes hands with Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.).
In the past few months, Republicans have issued two health care reform bills titled the Better Care Reconciliation Act and considered repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) without replacing it. Under these proposals anywhere from 22 million to 32 million people would be at risk of losing their coverage, including tens of millions of individuals on Medicaid—the largest provider of behavioral health services. Furthermore, states would be able to opt out of requiring mental health and substance abuse treatment coverage as an essential health benefit.
APA has taken a leadership role in consistently opposing these efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. APA leaders and staff have engaged Capitol Hill lawmakers and staffers; worked as a leader in coalitions, including the Mental Health Liaison Group (a group of medical and advocacy organizations that focuses on mental health issues); and facilitated “fly-ins” with leaders coming to Washington D.C. to advocate on Capitol Hill and participate in press conferences with other major medical specialty groups.
On the Hill, APA leaders and staff have met with members of Congress and their staffs on both sides of the aisle, specifically targeting key Republican offices—leading up to the vote in the House as well as the vote in the Senate scheduled at press time.
APA has also written numerous letters with five other frontline physician groups—American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Physicians, American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, and American Osteopathic Association—to the House and Senate about the negative effects the Republican health care bills would have on patients across America.
That same coalition worked over several months to host fly-ins with leadership from each organization participating in press conferences and meetings with the offices of key senators. During the fly-ins, APA Immediate Past President Maria A. Oquendo, M.D., Ph.D., and former APA President Renȳe Bender, M.D., expressed APA’s concerns and urged the senators to take a bipartisan approach to health care reform.
In addition, APA has utilized the full force of its grassroots membership and social media to mobilize letter-writing and phone campaigns urging APA members to ask their members of Congress to vote no on any version of the bill that does not adequately protect people with mental illness and ensure access to mental health care as an essential health benefit.
“APA believes that the health and mental health of the American people is paramount to its prosperity,” said APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A. “We urge Congress and the administration to work in a bipartisan manner to fix the ACA and improve it. We are willing to sit down with members of both parties and come up with a solution that puts patients first. Any health care plan needs to maintain mental health and substance use treatment as essential benefits. Mental health must be treated the same as physical illness in any bill moving forward.” ■
