Report: 62 Million Americans Will Have Access to Expanded Behavioral Health Benefits under ACA and Parity

A report issued this week by the Department of Health and Human Services estimated that 62 million Americans will gain expanded coverage of mental health and substance use treatment services thanks to the ACA’s coverage expansions and the application of parity to new types of plans beginning in 2014.

The report examined behavioral health coverage for Americans currently enrolled in the individual-market and small group health plans, along with those who are uninsured. It found that 32.1 million Americans currently do not have any coverage for mental health, substance use treatment, or both (including the 27 million uninsured). Additionally, 30.4 million Americans who already have behavioral health coverage are enrolled in plans that will be required to come into compliance with parity in 2014. In all, 62.5 million Americans will either gain access to behavioral health coverage or will enjoy expanded behavioral health benefits when most of the health reform law becomes effective in 2014.

Click here to read the full report.

The Offices of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services is pleased to announce the

2013 Annual HOPE Recovery/Wellness Conference

May 21, 2013

Augusta Civic Center

Theme: Moving Forward Together: A Life Worth Living

Paolo del Vecchio, Director of the Center for Mental Health Services, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Registration cost will be $12 this year. A limited amount of partial scholarships will be available.

The 2013 HOPE Conference is a collaboration of SAMHS, the Consumer Council System of Maine and the Maine Alliance for Addiction Recovery.

Washington -- January 16, 2013 -- Over the past several years, homicides involving the use of firearms - notably, mass murders that generate significant media attention - have raised questions about the adequacy of mental health services in this country. Some have argued that the disability rights movement, deinstitutionalization, and the closure of state hospital beds have significantly contributed to many of the tragic gun-related murders across the country. Such arguments tend to overlook the impact of the nation's failure to fund the comprehensive community mental health systems that were intended to replace outmoded state institutions. Nevertheless, arguments to expand the availability of psychiatric hospital beds have ready appeal, particularly in the wake of tragic mass homicides; increasing the number of psychiatric hospital beds appears to be a straightforward response.

A new analysis conducted by the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law examines the relationships between states' rates of murder by firearms, incarceration, and the availability of psychiatric hospital beds. If expanding the number of psychiatric beds is a meaningful remedy to firearm related murders in this country, one would expect a clear association between these factors, showing that states with fewer psychiatric hospital beds have higher rates of firearm-related homicides or incarceration.  

The Bazelon Center's analysis found, however, that correlations among these factors are strikingly low. The analysis suggests that, to the extent that unaddressed needs of people with serious mental illness contribute to the nation's homicide rate, the public policy answers lie not in increasing the number of psychiatric hospital beds, but elsewhere.

Maine Equal Justice Partners (MEJP) created the attached client education and Monthly Medical Deduction form to highlight the fact that the Food Supplement Program has a medical deduction that helps low-income seniors and people with disabilities get the food they need to stay healthy. MEJP shared the monthly medical deduction form with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and DHHS will accept these forms from people seeking the medical deduction.

Food Supplement Program Medical Deduction Information and Form