TimesLeader.com

August 6
Mailbag

Dear Editor,

I am writing as a Board Member and Government Liaison with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Scranton chapter which is the voice on mental illness for Lackawanna, Susquehanna and Wayne counties to thank Senator Bob Casey, Senator Arlen Specter, Congressman Chris Carney and Congressman Paul Kanjorski for their support of overriding the President’s veto of the Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (HR 6331.) This important legislation will make a number of critical improvements to the Medicare program, especially for beneficiaries living with serious mental illness. Among these critical improvements are:

-Addressing the discriminatory 50 percent cost sharing requirement for outpatient mental illness treatment, gradually lowering it to 20 percent as required for all other medical treatment.

-Reforming the Medicare Part D benefit to insure that prescription drug plan must maintain broad access on their formularies to medications to treat serious mental illness (including antipsychotic, antidepressants and anticonvulsants.)

-Restoring coverage under Part D for benzodiazepines

-Enacting a series of reforms that would allow more low-income beneficiaries to qualify for the Part D Low-Income Subsidy (LIS) and thereby avoid the program’s “doughnut hole” coverage gap.

-Expanding the Medicare rural hospital FLEX program to increase access to mental illness treatment services for veterans in rural and frontier communities. HR 6331 is a critical step forward in improving Medicare for the Americans living with serious mental illness. Thanks again for your support.

Sincerely,

Chris Musti

Member of the Board of Directors Government Liaison, NAMI, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Scranton Area Chapter