SAAS Flash - 6/22/10
Senate Confirms New ONDCP Deputy Directors
Benjamin B. Tucker Confirmed as ONDCP Deputy Director of State, Local and Tribal Affairs; Brings 40 Years' Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Experience to Drug Policy Office
(Washington, D.C.) - On June 22 the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination of Benjamin B. Tucker by unanimous consent to be the new Deputy Director of State, Local and Tribal Affairs for the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). Mr. Tucker will oversee ONDCP's High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program (HIDTA), Drug-Free Communities (DFC), National Youth-Anti-Drug Media Campaign, and Counter-Drug Technology Assessment Center (CTAC).
SAAS Flash - 6/22/10
Court Decision in Parity Lawsuit
On June 21, the US District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the lawsuit filed by the Coalition for Parity, Inc. against the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury seeking to prevent application of the interim final rules on The Wellstone-Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA). In her decision, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly stated that the Departments were allowed to issue interim final rules (IFR) in order to expedite the rulemaking process given the short timeframe allowed by the law. She ruled that the IFR will stand, but stated that it was also her expectation that the Departments should move swiftly to finalize the rules by responding to 4,000+ comments submitted on the IFR and complete the rulemaking process. Read the full opinion here.
SAAS Flash - 6/17/10
New tool assists understanding of 42 CFR Part 2
The Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology announced yesterday the release of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Applying the Substance Abuse Confidentiality Regulations to the Health Information Exchange (HIE).
The National Impact - 5/4/10
Health Information Technology Legislation (H.R. 5040) Introduced in the House; Bill Would Make Addiction and Mental Health Service Providers Eligible for HIT Funds
The National Impact - 2/3/10
President Obama’s FY 2011 Budget Released
On February 1st, the Obama Administration released the FY 2011 federal budget. The President’s budget includes funding requests for federal drug and alcohol prevention, treatment, recovery and research programming and for programs serving people with criminal records. Under the President’s FY 2011 budget, programs in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) would receive $3.7 billion, a $110 million increase over FY 2010 funding. The 2011 fiscal year runs from October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011.
Health Reform Update - 1/15/10
Passage of a final health care package may be imminent (see below for an update), so action today is critical!
Earlier this week, over 110 organizations from the addiction prevention, treatment and recovery, mental health, public health, children's advocacy, HIV/AIDS, criminal justice, civil rights and housing communities wrote to the leadership of the House and Senate, emphasizing the need to include key provisions for mental health and addiction prevention, treatment and recovery support services in the final national healthcare reform package. Click here to read this letter to Senate Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Funding Update - 12/14/09
Recently both the House and the Senate approved an omnibus FY 2010 spending bill that includes funding amounts for a number of federal programs including those in the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (Labor HHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ). On December 11th, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to approve the omnibus FY 2010 spending package by a 221 to 202 vote. Yesterday, the Senate approved the spending bill by a 57 to 35 vote.
President Obama is expected to soon sign the measure into law. The full text of the spending bill can be found at: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app10.html.
Under the House- and Senate-approved FY 2010 omnibus spending bill, drug and alcohol prevention, treatment and research programming would receive the following funding amounts:
- The Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) Block Grant would receive $1.7986 billions, a $20 million increase over FY 2009.
Health Reform Update - 11/23/09
Health Reform Bill Unveiled in the Senate, Passes Crucial First Vote
Senate Democrats unveiled their healthcare reform legislation late Wednesday night. The bill would cost $849 billion over the first 10 years, cut the deficit by $127 billion over the same period, and expand health coverage to 31 million currently uninsured Americans.
As expected, the Senate bill released this week maintains the strong substance use disorder and mental health provisions from the HELP and Finance Committee bills, such as:
- Requiring substance use disorder and mental health services to be included in all qualified health plans as part of the minimum benefits package
- Requiring individual, small group and large group health insurance plans to comply with the Wellstone Domenici parity act
- Prohibiting discrimination by health insurers against individuals based on health status
Health Reform Update - 11/13/09
Update: House Passes Healthcare Bill
After months of work, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of healthcare reform legislation, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, on Saturday, November 7th. The vote was 220-215, with 39 Democrats joining all but one Republican in voting against the bill.
As a result of the strong advocacy efforts of the Coalition for Whole Health and many others, the healthcare reform bill passed by the House contains a number of very good provisions to expand substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery support services and mental health services for millions of Americans. Specifically, the healthcare reform bill passed by the House:
- Includes substance use disorder and mental health benefits in the minimum benefit package that all qualified health plans will be required to offer
Health Reform Update - 10/16/09
Update and Status of Healthcare Reform Legislation
Healthcare reform legislation continues to move forward in Congress. This week, the Senate Finance Committee approved their healthcare reform bill by a 14 to 9 vote. Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) voted with the Committee Democrats to report the bill.
Work is now focused on reconciling the Senate Finance bill with the Senate HELP Committee bill. Similar work is ongoing in the House, as Congressional leaders work to meld the House Education and Labor, Ways and Means, and Energy and Commerce bills. Once the bills are combined, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) will score the final House and Senate bills before floor debate and votes will occur later this month.
