Seniors Mental Health Access And Improvement Act

Floor Speech

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I am honored to join my colleague from Arkansas, Senator Blanche Lincoln, in introducing Nos. 671, the Seniors Mental Health Access Improvement Act.

For over a decade, Senator Lincoln has been a strong voice advocating for health care policies in the Senate that apply specifically to rural communities. I am proud to join her as we fight to ensure Medicare patients living in rural and in frontier States have access to and a choice of their mental health professionals.

The Seniors Mental Health Access Improvement Act will permit marriage and family therapists and licensed professional counselors to bill Medicare directly. These providers will then receive 75 percent of the rate that psychiatrists and psychologists receive for the same services.

I want my colleagues to know that S. 671 does not expand covered Medicare services. It would simply give Medicare patients who are living in isolated frontier States, such as Wyoming, more choices for mental health providers.

Today, approximately three-quarters of the nationally designated mental health professional shortage areas are located in rural areas. Over half of all rural counties have no mental health services of any kind. Frontier counties have even more dramatic numbers--95 percent do not have a psychiatrist, 68 percent do not have a psychologist, and 78 percent do not have a social worker. Virtually all of Wyoming is designated a mental health professional shortage area.

In Wyoming, there is a total of 474 mental health providers who are currently eligible to care for Medicare patients and bill Medicare for their services--474. Additionally, we have over 500 licensed professional counselors and 61 marriage and family therapists who are currently licensed to practice. None of them are able, at this time, to charge Medicare for the services they provide. By enacting this Seniors Mental Health Access and Improvement Act, that would more than double--more than double--the number of mental health providers available to treat seniors in my State.

Medicare patients in Wyoming are often forced to travel great distances to see mental health providers who are currently recognized by the Medicare program. To make matters even more of a challenge, rural and frontier communities have a tough time recruiting and retaining these providers--all providers but especially mental health care providers. In many small towns, a licensed professional counselor or a marriage or family therapist is the only mental health care provider in the area.

Medicare laws only compound the current situation.

Right now, only psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, and clinical nurse specialists can bill Medicare for mental health services. So it is time the Medicare Program recognizes the qualifications of licensed professional counselors and marriage and family therapists. They do play a crucial role in this Nation's mental health care.

These providers go through rigorous training, and it is similar to the curriculum of a master's level social worker. They must not be excluded from the Medicare Program. I believe S. 671 is critically important to the health and the well-being of our Nation's seniors. It is time for this bill to become law.

I yield the floor.

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