Bill would add therapists to Medicare

[Judi Lynn]

Sunday, November 13, 2005 · Last updated 11:01 p.m. PT

Bill would add therapists to Medicare

By KEVIN FREKING
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WASHINGTON -- In rural states, older residents often have a hard time finding care for mental health problems. Wyoming, for instance, has 200 square miles for every Medicare provider eligible to treat mental illness.

Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., wants to improve that ratio. He has sponsored legislation that would bring marriage and family therapists and licensed counselors into the health insurance program. As a result, Wyoming's elderly and disabled would have access to 1,063 mental health professionals instead of 474.

But the proposal has drawn strong opposition from the American Psychiatric Association, which says it would waste government money. The inclusion of the new providers would increase spending for marriage counseling or family troubles without improving care for more serious problems like schizophrenia, the group contends.

"These are the wrong services to cover at the wrong time. There's a huge resource issue," said Tom Leibfried, the association's lobbyist. "Congress is finding it hard to provide new money for services, and the first thing to fund would not be these."
(snip/...)

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_Mental_Health_Medicare.html

[applegrove]

1. Gee - do ya think "Big Pharma" is sponsoring this bill?

[EFerrari]

2. No, because the therapists the bill would include cannot prescribe.

Big Pharma is opposing it.

[applegrove]

14. Okay. That is all I need to know. I know they would have been on one

side or the other. They are never in the middle. They seem to detest the existance of people not on drugs.

[rodeodance]

3. its a turb war--psychiatrists vs those 'lowly' therapists (pecking order).

But the proposal has drawn strong opposition from the American Psychiatric Association, which says it would waste government money. The inclusion of the new providers would increase spending for marriage counseling or family troubles without improving care for more serious problems like schizophrenia, the group contends.

"These are the wrong services to cover at the wrong time. There's a huge resource issue," said Tom Leibfried, the association's lobbyist. "Congress is finding it hard to provide new money for services, and the first thing to fund would not be these."
(snip/...)

[flordehinojos]

4. it probably means psychiatrists will get paid less $$$ from medicare

either because their ridiculous $150.00 fee per 15 mins visit to prescribe or adjust medications will have to be slashed ... or because LMFTs and MH providers who provide THERAPY for a full 50 minutes might get more referrals from MEDICARE HMOs who will pay them less than what they pay psychiatrists.

[Dogmudgeon]

5. Big Pharma opposes this

Mental illness can only officially be cured by drug therapy. In extreme circumstances, they'll allow brief cognitive therapy, but ONLY after an expensive drug has been prescribed. Psychotherapists and counselors don't prescribe drugs, which means any money going to them will entail a reduction in the size of Pharma's slice of the pie.

As the psychiatrists' lobbyist says, there is a huge resource issue. A whole lot of tax money is going to Iraq (read: Halliburton/KBR), New Orleans (read: Halliburton/KBR), and tax breaks for the rich.

It's not "butter or guns" ... it's "psychotics or psychopaths". I'd rather the psychotics get the treatment they need than psychopaths get no-bid contracts and tax breaks.

--p!

[Sgent]

6. Lets be clear

Licensed Psychologists and Clinical Social Workers are already in the medicare program. I think many would support adding masters level Licensed Professional Counselors (master pscy).

LMFT's (Usually Masters Divinity, Family Dynamics) on the other hand do not have clinical training in treating disease states (in general). I personally wouldn't object to it, but it is not in the realm of scientific medicine in most cases.

[Frances]

7. Could the real aim be to bankrupt Medicare?

As we all have heard, many Republicans, especially Grover Norquist, want to end government programs like social security and medicare by "starving the beast" or basically bankrupting the government.

Republican tax cuts for the super rich help "starve the beast."

Also, the new Republican drug component for people on Medicare costs the taxpayers billions of dollars (while helping the drug companies a great deal and helping only a few medicare recipients). As a result, medicare is in much more serious trouble than social security.

In my county, many primary care physicians/general practioners will not accept medicare patients because the government pays so little to these doctors. This is another way to deny benefits to the elderly. And this is just what Norquist had in mind.

[MarsThe Cat]

9. this could very well do it.

BUT- they should be careful what they(the pukes) ask for.

if medicare goes kaput, the people WILL NOT stand for it, and it may actually lead to universal 'single-payer' coverage for ALL, not just the elderly and infirmed that currently qualify for medicare.

[fshrink]

16. Agreed.

Being a licensed psychologist in Wyoming, I know we could use a few extra minds. However, the training for MH providers has gone so low that the psychiatrists unfortunately have a point... The more the training in psychotherapy goes down, the more meds prescription will appear as the best option. Which is, in turn, unfortunate because this would not address the central issue, would pathologize aging and would hide extremely significant issues re. the status of the elderly in our society.

[sandnsea]

8. faith based marriage peddlers

That's all this is. Guilt people into staying married so they don't become financial burdens to the state. They do not give a shit about anything but money or power, not a one of them.

[RobinA]

12. You Don't Know

what you are talking about. I will be a licensed professional counselor soon, and I'm as atheist as they come. All this does is give the elderly the same access to therapists with Masters in Psych. as they do to therapists with Master in Social Work.

[sandnsea]

13. I know these Republicans

I know how they operate. If you think they're promoting real mental health, then you just haven't been paying attention.

[zann725]

10. How could adding "Counseling" be less practical than Part D Med farce?

Particularly if the Elderly (and Disabled...let's NOT forget the Disabled on Social Security)...are NOT able to afford their Med's under Part D...they at least need someone to counsel them on their depression from their untreated med problems. Now the only place they can "cut their pills in half to ration them" is in their minds.

That would definitely qualify as need for psych. care.

[donsu]

11. Dental!! we need dental coverage in medicare

therapists should be covered too

but

we need DENTAL coverage

[Chicago Democrat]

15. Yes, but that deserves its own story....

Bad teeth really kills. So does mental illness. These are really important.

You know what sucks? a crown costs 2000 dollars. WTF, that is too much.

Bad teeth contributed to the death of my buddy.

[Charlie Brown]

17. Domestic difficulties are not mental disorders

This is exactly the kind of wasteful pork I opposed when I used to be a Republican. It's obviously a ploy to promote "(Republican)family values in the guise of medical lingo by someone I'm certain knows nothing about mental health (Thomas majored in Agriculture).

It also completely ignores the plight of rural people with legitimate disorders.

Utter crap