Other Mental Health Legislation

CRS Summary: Amends the Public Health Service Act to allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, to award competitive matching grants to states to establish systems of care to provide mental health treatment and services to all children who are in the custody of the state or at-risk of entering into the custody of the state for the purpose of receiving mental health services.

Requires states to use grant funds for certain activities, including to: (1) expand public health insurance programs to cover community-based mental health and family support services for such children and their families that will be sustainable after the grant has expired; (2) provide outreach and public education concerning available programs and activities; and (3) provide training and professional development for personnel who work with such children.

Requires the Administrator to establish a task force to examine: (1) problems of mental health in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems; (2) issues with respect to access by children and youth to mental health services; and (3) the role of federal agencies in promoting access by children and youth to mental health services.

CRS Summary: Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require the Secretary of Education to make matching grants of at least $1 million to states for allocation to local educational agencies (LEAs) so that additional school-based mental health and student service providers may be hired, thereby reducing the student-to-provider ratios in elementary and secondary schools to specified levels recommended by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Includes school counselors, school psychologists or other psychologists, child or adolescent psychiatrists, and school social workers among such providers.

Requires grants to states and state allocations to LEAs to be made pursuant to specified formulas that take into account a state's and school district's share of disadvantaged children.

CRS Summary: Amends federal veterans' benefits provisions to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in providing counseling and other mental health services to a veteran who has limited proficiency in English, to ensure that such services are available in both English and a language in which that veteran is proficient, if requested by the veteran.

Requires the Secretary to implement a system by which persons with limited English proficiency can access services provided by the Department of Veterans consistent with, and without unduly burdening, the Department's fundamental mission.

Requires a report from the Secretary to the congressional veterans' committees on the implementation by the Department's Veterans Health Administration of a specified directive to implement prohibitions on discrimination on the basis of national origin for persons with limited English proficiency in federally-conducted programs and activities and in federal financial-assisted programs.

CRS Summary: Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to authorize the use of innovative assistance funds for programs to: (1) improve identification of students with eating disorders; (2) increase awareness of such disorders among parents and students; and (3) train educators with respect to effective eating disorder prevention and assistance methods.

Directs the Secretary of Education to carry out a program to broadcast public service announcements to improve public awareness, and to promote the identification and prevention, of eating disorders.

Requires the National Center for Education Statistics and the National Center for Health

Statistics to: (1) study the impact eating disorders have on educational advancement and achievement; (2) report on current state and local programs to educate youth on the dangers of eating disorders; and (3) recommend federal, state, and local measures that could be undertaken.

CRS Summary: Expresses the sense of Congress regarding the importance of access to mental health treatment and services and public awareness of mental illness, especially in minority communities. Calls for recognition of a Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month.

CRS Summary: Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), to expand and intensify research and related activities on postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis. Requires the Director of NIMH to conduct or support research to expand the understanding of the causes of, and to find a cure for, such conditions.

H.R.676: United States National Health Insurance Act Rep Conyers, John, Jr. (D-MI-14)

CRS Summary: United States National Health Insurance Act (or the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act) - Establishes the United States National Health Insurance (USNHI) Program (the Program) to provide all individuals residing in the United States and in U.S. territories with free health care that includes all medically necessary care, such as primary care and prevention, prescription drugs, emergency care, and mental health services.

Prohibits an institution from participating in the Program unless it is a public or nonprofit institution. Allows nonprofit health maintenance organizations (HMOs) that actually deliver care in their own facilities to participate in the Program.

Gives patients the freedom to choose from participating physicians and institutions.

Prohibits a private health insurer from selling health insurance coverage that duplicates the benefits provided under this Act. Allows such insurers to sell benefits that are not medically necessary, such as cosmetic surgery benefits.

Sets forth methods to pay hospitals and health professionals for services. Prohibits financial incentives between HMOs and physicians based on utilization.

Establishes the USNHI Trust Fund to finance the Program with amounts deposited: (1) from existing sources of Government revenues for health care; (2) by increasing personal income taxes on the top 5% income earners; (3) by instituting a progressive excise tax on payroll and self-employment income; and (4) by instituting a small tax on stock and bond transactions.

Requires the Program to give first priority in retraining and job placement and unemployment benefits to individuals whose jobs are eliminated due to reduced administration.

Establishes a National Board of Universal Quality and Access to provide advice on quality, access, and affordability.

CRS Summary: Seniors Mental Health Access Improvement Act of 2007 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide for coverage under Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of marriage and family therapist services generally, and particularly those provided in rural health clinics and in hospice programs.

Amends Medicare part C (Miscellaneous) to exclude such services from the skilled nursing facility prospective payment system.

Authorizes marriage and family therapists to develop discharge plans for post-hospital services.

CRS Summary: Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to repeal the exclusion from medical assistance under the Medicaid program of items and services for patients in an institution for mental diseases.

CRS Summary: Makes a veteran who served on active duty during a period of war eligible for a mental health evaluation and hospital care, medical services, nursing home care, and family and marital counseling for any identified mental health condition, notwithstanding insufficient medical evidence to conclude that the condition is attributable to such service.

Requires: (1) post-deployment medical and mental health screenings to be conducted within 30 days after a deployment; (2) each member, upon discharge, to be provided an electronic copy of all military records of such member; and (3) the Secretary of Defense to ensure appropriate outreach to members of the National Guard and reserves concerning benefits and services available upon discharge or deactivation.

Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish and maintain a Global War on Terrorism Veterans Information System.

Requires quarterly reports from the Secretaries of Veterans Affairs, Labor, and Defense on the effects on veterans and on each such department of participation in the Global War on Terrorism

CRS Summary: Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to award grants to eligible entities to provide medical and mental health monitoring, tracking, and treatment to individuals whose health has been directly impacted as a result of the attacks on New York City and at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Includes as eligible individuals firefighters, police officers, paramedics, workers, volunteers, residents, students, and any other individual who worked at Ground Zero, Fresh Kills (recovery site on Staten Island), or the Pentagon or lived or worked in the vicinity of such areas, whose health has deteriorated as a result of the attacks, and who has been evaluated by a physician or mental health professional for 9/11-related health conditions and needs treatment for such conditions. Sets the order of priority for individuals covered under this Act.