1. Presentation to the NAMI Georgia Annual Conference April 22, 2017
What Does the New Congress and New Presidency Mean for People with Mental Illness and Their Families
Presentation to the NAMI Georgia Annual Conference
April 22, 2017
Andrew Sperling
Director of Legislative Advocacy
NAMI National

2. 21st Century CURES Act & NIH Funding
HR 34, signed by President Obama on December 13 (P.L )
Strong bipartisan support in Congress
Thank You Senator Isakson!!!!
Includes multiple titles:
21st Century CURES Act
New funding for NIH
Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act
$1 billion in new funding for opioid treatment
Child welfare reforms

3. 21st Century CURES Act
$4.8 billion over 10 years in new funding for NIH including the BRAIN Initiative (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) and the Precision Medicine Initiative
Catalyzes cutting edge research and personalized drug development
Modernizes clinical trial development through novel trial design and use of real world evidence
FDA reforms including
Biomarker qualification
Changes to review of combination therapies
Allowing manufacturers to communicate with health plans earlier on the value of therapies
Reforms to the device review process
Fosters interoperability of electronic medical records

4. Mental Health Reform Federal Reforms
New Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Abuse
New Interagency Coordinating Committee for Serious Mental Illness
New Medical Director at SAMHSA
New Policy Laboratory to promote evidence-based practice
Codification of 10% set aside for early intervention in psychosis
Medicaid
Codifies rule allowing limited federal matching funds for short-term stay in an IMD (15 days within a month)
Clarification to allow for same day billing
Mental Health Parity
Requires release of federal guidance on compliance at enforcement action
Requires annual report from HHS on enforcement action
GAO report on compliance non-quantitative treatment limits

5. Mental Health Reform SAMHSA Programs
Authorizes new program at SAMHSA to promote assertive community treatment
Reauthorizes existing pilot program for states to replicate assisted outpatient treatment
Reauthorizes the Garrett Lee Smith Suicide Prevention program and adds an adult prevention program
Model training program on HIPAA rules
Criminal Justice
Reauthorizes and expands the Mental Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (MIOTCRA)
New grants for CIT and de-escalation training for law enforcement
Authorizes Forensic ACT programs
Requires improved data collection at DoJ for on involvement of mental illness in homicides, deaths and serious injuries involving law enforcement officers

6. Trump Administration Agenda
Excerpted from Trump campaign website:
”Fix Our Broken Mental Health System - Let’s be clear about this. Our mental health system is broken. It needs to be fixed. Too many politicians have ignored this problem for too long.”
“Finally, we need to reform our mental health programs and institutions in this country. Families, without the ability to get the information needed to help those who are ailing, are too often not given the tools to help their loved ones. There are promising reforms being developed in Congress that should receive bi-partisan support.”

7. Repeal & Replace – The Process
What is budget “reconciliation”?
Requires only 50 votes in the Senate
Time limited debate
“Byrd Rule” creates a “point of order” against non-budget provisions
Complete repeal and replace cannot occur under reconciliation, eventually bipartisan support will be needed to get to 60 votes in the Senate
Efforts to stabilize the small group and individual market
American Health Care Act still short of 216 votes in the House
Process is now very fluid
Role of Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scoring?

8. American Health Care Act (HR 1628)
Eliminates of the individual and employer mandates and their tax penalties immediately and retroactive to December 2015
Eliminates current premium tax credit in 2020
Eliminates of cost sharing subsidies in 2020
Delays until 2025 premium on high cost plans (“Cadillac Tax”)
Permanent repeal of the medical device tax
New refundable tax credit:
Under age 30: $2,000
Between 30 and 39: $2,500
Between 40 and 49: $3,000
Between 50 and 59: $3,500
Over age 60: $4,000
Higher credit available based on age

9. Small Group and Individual Market Stabilization
$15 billion available annually in 2018 and 2019 for states to stabilize markets and offer coverage to high risk individuals that do not meet “continuous coverage”
“Continuous Coverage” (no more than 63 day break) required for consumer protections (pre-existing condition exclusion and guaranteed issue) and allowance for a 30% premium penalty
New authority for age variation in premiums (4.8 to 1)
Allowing young adults on family policies up to age 26 retained

10. Medicaid Expansion
States can keep expanded eligibility through January 1, 2020 after which newly eligible beneficiaries funded at regular FMAP rate
Transition FMAP rate for states expanding eligibility before January 1, 2020
Requirement for “Essential Health Benefits” (including behavioral health) in expansion states repealed in 2020
A single month of break in coverage results in permanent loss of expanded eligibility
$10 billion available through 2022 for non-expansion states for safety net providers
Mandates states to do eligibility redeterminations every 6 months (with 5% FMAP increase)

11. Medicaid Per Capita Cap
Starting in 2020, current system of matching overall state expenditures at FMAP (66 cents for Georgia) would be replaced with fixed per beneficiary amount
Based on 2016 spending across various beneficiary categories
“aged blind disabled”
Women and children
Single adults
Expansion adults
Per capita cap rate would be annually adjusted based on medical CPI calculation
Broad new flexibility for states to restrict eligibility and benefits – even for mandatory enrollees

12. Why is Medicaid So Important?
70 million Americans eligible
Diverse populations – “80/20” Rule
Largest source of funding for public mental health services
Joint state-federal partnership
Eligibility for most single adults linked to SSI
“Mandatory” v. “Optional” populations and services
Most mental health services are “optional” not “mandatory”
Role of the IMD (Institution for Mental Disease) Exclusion in access to inpatient care
Role of waiver programs
NAMI concerns about a block grant or per capita cap

13. Georgia and the Affordable Care Act
581,000 Georgians enrolled in Exchange plans between 2010 and 2015
409,000 in the “coverage gap” between subsidized coverage and Medicaid eligibility
650,000 are eligible for Medicaid expansion
1.7 million now on Medicaid
90% of Exchange enrollees were getting subsidies in 2016
Premiums in the federal Exchange are up 15% in 2016
Plans that exited in 2016: UnitedHealth, Aetna, Cigna and Harken
Plans still in: Blue Cross-Blue Shield, Humana (only large cities), Kaiser Permanente, Ambetter Peach State, Alliant

14. What are NAMI’s Priorities in Repeal & Replace?
Retaining expanded Medicaid eligibility – for both expansion and non-expansion states
Essential Health Benefits (EHB) – the requirement for mental health and substance abuse as 1 of the 10 categories
Requirement for all Exchange plans to comply with MHPAEA
Insurance market reforms:
Pre-existing condition exclusions
Guaranteed issue and renewability
Limits on premium rating based on age, gender and health status
Young adults to age 26 in family coverage
Healthcare.gov and enrollment infrastructure
Elimination of the Part D coverage gap (the “doughnut hole”)
Repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB)

15. What Can President Trump Do Without Congress?
Executive Orders – Lots of them!!!
Abandon appeal on House v. Price case and eliminate cost sharing reduction (CSR) subsidies
Eliminate special enrollment periods and impose additional “lock in” measures to keep younger, healthier enrollees in coverage
Restore “risk corridor” payments to keep health plans in the federal marketplace
Coverage mandates for contraception and preventive services
Revise Essential Health Benefits (EHB) rule
Revise the Section 1557 non-discrimination rule

16. FY 2017 Funding Bill for Mental Illness Research, Services and Housing
Current FY 2017 “continuing resolution” (CR) expires on April 28
Full year “Omnibus” Appropriations bill is needed
NAMI priorities:
Research: Both the House and Senate draft bills propose an overall $2 billion boost for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). For NIMH, the Senate bill specifically included a $71.5 million increase – up to $1.619 billion. With a CR for the rest of FY 2017, those funds would evaporate.
Services: Under the draft Senate bill, the Mental Health Block Grant would receive a $30 million increase, up to $541 million. Any agreement will continue the current 10% set aside for early intervention in psychosis.
Supportive Housing: A CR would have significant negative consequences across a range of HUD rental assistance programs including Section 8, Project-Based Rental Assistance, McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance and Section Flat funding would leave HUD unable to meet its obligation to pay landlords a full 12 months of renewal funding and likely result in hundreds of thousands of currently assisted individuals and families losing their housing.

17. Questions. asperling@nami
Questions? 2017 NAMI Convention and Hill Day – June 28 – July 1 in Washington, DC. More information at Joint NCBH-MHA-NAMI Hill Day – October 2-3 in Washington, DC. More information at: Sign up for NAMI Advocacy Alerts at