Medicaid’s New Case Management Regulation Delayed
February 21, 2008 by Alicia Sparks, Mental Health Notes
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
I am a sucker when it comes to signing up for newsletters and advocacy alerts; however, sometimes the number of bulletins and requests can feel a bit overwhelming.
Seriously, if it’s not PETA asking me to boycott candymaker Mars, Inc., it’s Defenders of Wildlife urging me to call the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to try to prevent the elimination of federal protections for hundreds of endangered wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies.
An advocate’s work is never done.
However, all these phone calls, emails, and snail mail letters do pay off. I just received the following notice from Mental Health America:
Dear Alicia,
Your calls and e-mails expressing concern about Medicaid’s new case management regulation paid off!
Last week, the Senate passed an amendment that would delay implementation of the case management rule until April of 2009. This amendment, sponsored by Senators Norm Coleman (R-MN), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), would have the same effect as the bill we asked you to support in our alert. It was added to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act reauthorization bill (S. 1200), which the Senate is expected to pass when it returns from recess next week.
Keep the pressure on your Senators and Representative to co-sponsor the bills introduced by Senator Coleman and Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) (S. 2578 and H.R. 5173) that would delay implementation of this harmful new case management regulation until April 2009. The amendment in the Senate bill still has to be included in the final version of the Indian Health reauthorization bill, and the Administration has expressed opposition to this amendment.
Thank you again for your support. We can make a difference!
I wanted to share that with you all because there have been numerous times I’ve passed along health-related alerts (usually mental health-related alerts) here at Mental Health Notes. I don’t know how many of you actually act on them (send letters to your representatives, and the such) but I thought, for those of you who do, I thought you might need a little feeling of accomplishment, so to speak.
