The Senate Finance Committee completed substantially all work on health care and Medicare legislation in the early hours of October 2, having considered more than one hundred amendments to the legislation.  Unfortunately, the legislation does not include a provision to establish Medicare coverage of medically-necessary mental health services provided by licensed professional counselors and marriage and family therapists.  Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), a member of the committee, had considered offering an amendment to add counselor and marriage and family therapist coverage under Medicare, based on the bipartisan legislation (S. 671) she introduced with Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) to establish such coverage.  The amendment was not offered, though, due to concerns regarding its potential lack of support. Senate leaders will now work to combine the Finance bill with one approved earlier by the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee, and take the package to the Senate floor.

House leaders are also putting together a single health care and Medicare bill to bring to a floor vote, based on versions of the legislation adopted by the three House committees with jurisdiction over the issue.  The legislation is expected to be very similar to H.R. 3200, which includes language establishing Medicare coverage of counselors and marriage and family therapists. 

ACA is working in coalition with other counselor and marriage and family therapist organizations to convince legislators to include the House bill’s Medicare coverage provision in the version ultimately approved by Congress.  While adoption of the provision by the Senate Finance Committee would have greatly increased our chances of having it in the final bill, we can still reach this goal by maintaining—if not increasing—pressure on Senators to accept the House’s position on this issue.  Senators should be reminded that their chamber approved Medicare coverage of counselors more than five years ago, in 2003, and did so again in 2005.  Now more than ever, Medicare beneficiaries need access to the full range of qualified mental health service providers.

Counselors are encouraged to keep up pressure on Congress to bring Medicare policy up-to-date with private sector health plan policies by establishing coverage of licensed professional counselors.  For more information, contact Scott Barstow with ACA at sbarstow@counseling.org, or by calling 800-347-6647 x234.