APA Commends Bipartisan Budget Deal for Health, MH Provisions

Thebipartisan budget agreement passed last week by Congress wonpraise from APA for its inclusion of funding for many mental health, substance use, and criminal justice programs that will benefit millions of Americans living with serious mental and substance use disorders. APA had lobbied hard on many of these issues for months leading up to the vote.Among the major provisions of the legislation is an extension of the Children ’s Health Insurance Program through 2028, marking the longest reauthorization in the program’s history. CHIP is a federal-state partnership that provides comprehensive health insurance coverage for children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private ins urance. CHIP insures 9 million children, including 850,000 with serious behavioral or emotional disorders.The budget agreement also provides the following:$6 billion to help fight the nation ’s opioid epidemic, primarily through state grants that expand substance abuse and mental health treatment. In addition, $2 billion has been earmarked over the next two years to support research at the National Institutes of Health, including its study of nonopioid pain therapies.Two-year reauthorizations of funding for the community health centers; the National Health Service Corps, which provides student loan forgiveness to health professionals who work in rural or underserved areas; and the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Program. These all provide ...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: bipartisan budget agreement of 2018 Children's Health Insurance Program opioid epidemic Saul Levin telehealth Source Type: research