FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Monday, March 26, 2007
CONTACT: Yoni Cohen, (202) 225-3202

WASHINGTON, DC – Representative Pete Stark (D-CA), Chairman of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, on Friday introduced the Medicare Health Modernization Act of 2007 (H.R. 1663). The bill provides parity in Medicare for mental health services and improves coverage for cost-effective and community-based mental health treatment services for seniors and people with disabilities.

"It is past time for Medicare to meet the mental health needs of seniors and people with disabilities," said Stark. "As Congress debates requiring private group health plans to offer equal coverage for mental and physical illnesses, it should at the very least make sure public programs provide that same parity. After all, Members of Congress currently benefit from federal plans that treat mental health on an equal footing with physical health."

One in five seniors experiences mental problems that are not related to the normal aging process. In primary care settings, more than a third of seniors demonstrate symptoms of depression. Older Americans also have the highest rate of suicide of any segment of our population. The majority of Medicare beneficiaries with a disability suffer from mental illness. Yet Medicare's existing mental health benefits limit access to essential treatment and do not adequately meet beneficiaries' needs.

“Both physical and mental health care have changed dramatically since Congress created Medicare in 1965,” said Stark. “Over the years, Congress has updated Medicare’s coverage for physical illnesses accordingly. But seniors and people with disabilities continue to be denied the up-to-date mental health services they need. Congress should expand beneficiaries’ access to mental health services by providing parity between mental and physical health.”

The Medicare Mental Health Modernization Act improves Medicare benefits in several important areas. The bill:

* Eliminates the 190-day lifetime limit on inpatient mental health services and reduces the discriminatory 50 percent copayment for outpatient mental health services to the 20 percent level applied to most physical health services.

* Expands beneficiary access to a range of community-based residential and intensive outpatient services that provide state-of-the-art mental health treatment.

* Addresses the shortage of qualified mental health professionals serving older and disabled Americans in rural and other medically underserved areas by allowing state licensed marriage and family therapists and mental health counselors to provide Medicare-covered services.

* Improves nursing home residents' access to clinical social workers.