SAMHSA’s Weekly Financing News Pulse: National Edition

Table of Contents

National News 

• Rep. Pelosi Unveils House Democrats’ Health Care Reform Bill; Sen. Reid Says Senate Bill will Include Public Option
• President Obama Signs Military Spending Bill Requiring Mental Health Screenings for Returning Vets; Congressmen Propose Bill to Give Military Personnel Direct Access to Mental Health Treatment
• Senate Confirms Benjamin as Surgeon General
• Rep. Sestak Introduces Legislation to Extend the ARRA COBRA Subsidy
• Sen. Kaufman Introduces Bill to Increase Funding for Health Care Fraud Investigation, Increase Penalties
• New York Attorney General Announces New Database to Calculate Out-of-Network Health Claims
• Four Pharmaceutical Companies Agree to Pay $124 Million to Settle Medicaid Fraud Claims
• SAMHSA Awards $170.5 Million to Fund Systems of Care for Mentally Ill Children and Their Families
• Gallup Poll Finds 44 Percent Favor Legalizing Marijuana
• GM Salaried Workers Offered Only High-Deductible Health Plans

Studies Released

• Thomson Reuters Estimates U.S. Health Care System Wastes at Least $505 Billion Annually
• CHCS Report Analyzes High-Cost, High-Need Medicaid Beneficiaries
• EPI Documents Decline in Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance, Projects Further Decline
• Urban Institute Examines Age Rating Under Health Care Reform Bills
• CBPP Report Finds Finance Committee Bill’s Premium Subsidies Insufficient
• Commonwealth Fund Report Examines Cost of “Medical Home” Model
• SK&A Report Finds 83 Percent of Physicians Accept Medicare, 65 Percent Accept Medicaid

Around the Hill: Hearings on Health Financing  

SAMHSA’s Weekly Financing News Pulse: State and Local Edition

Table of Contents

• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California
• Connecticut
• Illinois
• Iowa
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• New York
• Ohio
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• Texas
• Virginia
• West Virginia

Download SAMHSA's Weekly Financing News Pulse: State and Local Edition here: Weekly Financing News Pulse State and Local Edition final 20091028.pdf (437.41 kb)

SAMHSA’s Weekly Financing News Pulse: National Edition

Table of Contents

National News              

• House and Senate Move Towards Merged Health Care Reform Bills, Debate Centers on Public Plan
• Senate Blocks Action on Unfunded Medicare “Doctor Fix”
• President Obama Signs VA Health Care Bill
• Democrats to Add Provision Eliminating Health Insures’ Antitrust Exemption to Health Reform; House Judiciary Committee Approves Bill
• Senator Introduces Bill Authorizing More Funding for IHS
• Sen. Durbin Introduces Bill to Increase the Quantity of Crack Cocaine Triggering Mandatory Minimums
• Rep. Braley to Introduce Bill Emphasizing Patient Safety
• DOJ Issues Formal Medical Marijuana Guidelines
• Update: Administration Cites Humana for Non-Compliance, Relaxes Medicare Communications Rules
• Health Care Reform Polls Find Support for Public Plan and Continued Confusion
• HHS-DOJ Strike Force Yields More Charges on Medicare Fraud
• Pharmaceutical Companies are NAMI’s Biggest Donors

Studies Released

• CMS Office of the Actuary Report Says House Health Reform Bill Would Increase Health Care Costs
• CDC Report Finds Drug Deaths Outnumber Traffic Deaths in 16 States
• NCQA Report Finds Health Care Quality Stagnant; M/SU Treatment Quality Low
• Families USA Report Estimates 2009 Uninsurance Rate
• CBPP Report Highlights Recession’s Effect on State Budgets
• AAMC Data Shows Small Increase in Medical School Enrollment
• Committee Report Says Health Reform Bills have Too Few Cost Controls
• Goldman Sachs Says Health Reform’s Medicare Cuts Will Halve Insurer’s Earnings Growth
• Watson Wyatt Finds Large Employers Do Not Plan to Restore Health Benefits After Recession
• Study Finds Association Between Post-Retirement Work and Health, Including Mental Health

Around the Hill: Hearings on Health Financing

• Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts: Bankruptcy and Medical Debt
  October 20, 10:00 a.m., 226 Dirksen
• Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee: Health Care Overhaul and Small Business
  October 20, 10:30 a.m., 253 Russell
• House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations: High Cost of Small Business Health Insurance
  October 20, 1:00 p.m., 2123 Rayburn
• House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health: Indian Health Care
  October 20, 2:00 p.m., 2226 Rayburn
• Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee: Monitoring Response to H1N1 Flu
  October 21, 9:30 a.m., 342 Dirksen
• Senate HELP Committee: HELP Nominations
  October 21, 10:00 a.m., 430 Dirksen
• Senate Veterans Affairs Committee: VA-Indian Health Service Cooperation
  November 5, 10:00 a.m., 418 Russell
• Senate Judiciary Committee: Health Care Fraud
  TBA, 226 Dirksen

Download SAMHSA's Weekly Financing News Pulse: National Edition here: Weekly Financing News Pulse National Edition final 20091023.pdf (409.64 kb)

SAMHSA’s Weekly Financing News Pulse: State and Local Edition

Table of Contents 

• Alabama
• California
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Florida
• Hawaii
• Indiana
• Kansas
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• New Hampshire
• New York
• North Carolina
• Ohio
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin

Download SAMHSA's Weekly Financing News Pulse: State and Local Edition here: Weekly Financing News Pulse State and Local Edition final 20091021.pdf (290.93 kb)

This report, released October 6 by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), analyzes the provisions in national health care reform legislation in the House (H.R. 3200) and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (S. 1679) that affect behavioral health care, including those provisions which interact with the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA), signed into law on October 3, 2008 (P.L. 110-343).

From the executive summary:

Under H.R. 3200, which was ordered to be reported as amended by the House Committees on Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor, qualified health benefits plans (which would be required to provide behavioral health services) would be required to comply with the MHPAEA rules regarding the amount, duration, and scope of mental health and substance abuse benefits. This is also true of the minimum qualifying coverage specified in the Senate HELP bill, S. 1679. MHPAEA would also require carve-out programs (which are specialized managed care organizations that administer the behavioral health benefits for an insurance plan) to comply with the parity requirements in the same manner that the insurer would have been required.

Three other provisions in the health care reform proposals affect the behavioral health care system. First, there are provisions that aim to address the issue of behavioral health provider shortage by providing for the establishment of grant programs to train and educate such providers. Second, some provisions aim to address the issue of affordability and lack of coordination of behavioral health care through the establishment of federally qualified behavioral health centers and co-location of primary and specialty care services with behavioral health services. Third, a provision in the Energy and Commerce version of H.R. 3200 aims to address research needs in specialty areas of mental health care by authorizing studies on postpartum depression. 

Congressional Research Service. (2009). Behavioral Health Care in H.R. 3200 and S. 1679. Sundararaman, Ramya. 

The report is available from the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare here: http://www.thenationalcouncil.org/galleries/policy-file/Behavioral%20Health%20Care%20in%20HR%203200%20and%20S%201679.pdf 

SAMHSA’s Weekly Financing News Pulse: National Edition

Table of Contents

National News              

• Finance Committee Approves Health Care Reform Legislation; Legislature Moves Towards Floor Debates
• Congress Passes Bill Allowing Advance VA Health Care Appropriations
• Sen. Stabenow Introduces Bill to “Fix” Medicare Physician Payments; GOP to Add Cost Offsets
• Sen. Reid Testifies Against Health Insurers’ Antitrust Exemption, Lawmakers Consider Adding to Health Reform Legislation
• Sick College Students Can Keep Parents’ Health Insurance
• Proposed Federal Rules Would Limit HRAs and Wellness Programs
• SAMHSA Awards $38.2 Million to Expand Drug Courts
• SAMHSA Grants Fund Jail Diversion and Trauma Recovery, Target Veterans
• CMS Pilots Medicare Quality and Cost Program in CO, NM, OK, and TX
• HHS OIG to Increased Medicare and Medicaid Auditing in 2010
• U.S. Army Pilots Voluntary Private Substance Abuse Program
• Scattered Reports of  H1N1 Vaccine Shortages Despite Ample CDC Supply; Public Still Weary

Studies Released

• AHIP Releases Report Outlining Potential Effects of Health Care Reform and Meets Significant Resistance
• Rockefeller Institute on Government Report Finds State Revenues Show Record Drop
• SAMHSA Releases TEDS Report on Criminal Justice System Referrals to Substance Abuse Treatment
• Urban Institute Brief Analyzes Census Bureau’s Health Care Coverage Data
• Consumer Reports Survey Analyzes Health Plans, Finds Moderate Satisfaction
• HealthGrades Report Shows Gap in Hospital Care
• TriNet Survey Finds Businesses Fear Cost Increases from Health Reform
• Center for Economic Policy and Research Report Suggests Advantages of Globalizing Medicare and Medicaid

Around the Hill: Hearings on Health Financing