ACA News

Keeping the Government Open, and Obamacare Funded, or Not: A Busy Week

Congress has until Friday to fund school counseling programs, drug and alcohol programs, the VA, and the rest of the government, or trigger a shutdown. How will the President's priorities affect the outcome?

New Mexico Bans Conversion Therapy

New Mexico becomes the first state this year to pass bipartisan legislation that bans conversion therapy on minors.

ACA Hosts Congressional Briefing on Opioid Addiction

ACA hosted a briefing for Capitol Hill staff on the opioid crisis and how counselors can be involved in the response. The event is available on video.

Limbo for the Affordable Care Act Is Coming To An End

The White House and Congress must decide whether to proactively weaken the Affordable Care Act or whether to prop it up because deadlines are looming on a court case, a spending bill, and for insurance companies to remain in the program.

Repealing and Replacing Obamacare Becomes Retreating and Regrouping

The House bill to repeal and replace Obamacare could not attract enough votes to pass. Its future viability, and the mental health benefits it provides, are up to the insurance companies and the Administration.

Video: House Committee Discusses Mental Health Care Requirement in Medicaid

A House Committee considering the bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act discusses the requirement for mental health care coverage going forward. It will be up to the States to decide.

Supreme Court Sends Transgender Rights in Schools Case Back Down

The Supreme Court returned a case involving transgender students and school bathrooms back to the Fourth Circuit Court after the new Administration withdrew guidance on the subject provided by the Obama Administration. The guidance from the new ...

House Begins to Consider a Bill to Repeal and Replace the Affordable Care Act

The House bill ends subsidies for low income people to buy insurance in the ACA market, and cuts Medicaid funding. It replaces those with tax credits for low and some middle income people that seem unlikely to be as generous on average. Many members ...

Senate Begins to Consider Mental Health Funding for FY2018

The subcommittee that funds mental health programs heard testimony on a range of issues as it prepares to write the spending bill for next year.

Congressional Resolution Discontinues Policy of Preventing Some With Mental Illness From Obtaining Firearms

Social Security recipients who required a designated payee due to mental impairment were being added to the national background check system.

Iowa ACA Members Help Defeat Legislation That Would Harm Counseling Profession

The proposed bill would have eliminated the licensure process for a number of professions including counseling, instead requiring anyone who wanted to be considered a counselor to simply register with the State Department of Public Health.

Prognosis for the Affordable Care Act

As Congress begins to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, it finds that one of those is easier than the other.

More States Considering Bans on Conversion Therapy

Five states and the District of Columbia have laws prohibiting conversion therapy. Five more are considering similar bills introduced this month.

ACA Attends American Association of State Counseling Boards Conference

Licensing reform, board consolidation, codes of ethics, and portability are some of the issues being discussed by licensing board members and other stakeholders in the profession.

New Law Creates More Opportunities for LPCs to Serve Veterans

President Obama and the 114th Congress gave the counseling profession a small gift before wrapping up their legislative business before the holiday season and the end of the year. On December 16, 2016, the President signed H.R. 6416, the ?Veterans ...

President Signs Landmark Mental Health Legislation

By signing the 21st Century Cures Act, President Obama approved the first major mental health legislation in nearly a decade.

Federal Spending, Federal Programs on Hold Until Spring

Congress has adjourned for the year. The 115th Congress will convene on January 3rd. Republicans will still control the majorities in both parties, although with slightly smaller margins.

The Trump Transition and the Trump Administration Are Just Getting Underway

In the three weeks since the election many things have changed in Washington, but as a practical matter nothing has changed just yet.

Elections & Consequences

There is an enormous amount to digest from the elections and very little to go on yet in terms of specifics.

What to Look for on Election Night

The end of a long campaign between two very different, historically unpopular candidates is at its end.