Mental Health Legislation to Support
Sponsor:
Rep. Chu, Judy [D-CA-27] (Introduced 05/25/2017)
Committees:
House - Energy and Commerce
Latest Action:
House - 05/26/2017 Referred to the Subcommittee on Health. (All Actions)
Purpose:
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for behavioral and mental health outreach and education strategies to reduce stigma associated with mental health among the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander population. NAAPIMHA encourages the use of a whole health, public health approach that incorporates the impact of culture and language as key to eliminating stigma.
Sponsor:
Rep. Porter, Katie [D-CA-45] (Introduced 06/10/2019)
Committees:
House - Energy and Commerce; Ways and Means; Education and Labor
Latest Action:
House - 06/30/2020 Subcommittee Hearings Held. (All Actions)
Purpose:
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (federal parity law) was enacted in 2008 and requires insurance coverage for mental health conditions, including substance use disorders, to be no more restrictive than insurance coverage for other medical conditions. Insurers and health plans have been able to comply with the more straightforward aspects of the law that relate to cost sharing and numerical limits on treatment (like annual inpatient day limits). However, some plans have struggled to meet the more complex components of the law that govern how they design and apply managed care practices such as prior authorization, reimbursement rate setting, and network design, among many others.
The Mental Health Parity Compliance Act would allow regulators to see inside health insurance plans to determine if they are complying with the federal parity law by giving patients with mental health and substance use disorders access to coverage equal to that which medical patients receive.
Sponsor:
Rep. Chu, Judy [D-CA-27] (Introduced 05/23/2019)
Committees:
House - Education and Labor
Latest Action:
House - 05/23/2019 Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor. (All Actions)
This bill directs the Department of Education (ED) to award grants to partnerships between educational agencies and graduate institutions to increase the number of school-based mental-health services providers employed by low-income local educational agencies (LEAs).
Grant funds may be used for specified purposes, including to provide student-loan forgiveness and tuition credits and to support recruitment, hiring, and training.
In addition, ED shall establish a program to provide student-loan forgiveness for individuals who (1) are not, and have never been, participants in the grant program established by the bill; and (2) have been employed by low-income LEAs for five or more consecutive school years as mental-health services providers.
Sponsor:
Rep. Napolitano, Grace F. [D-CA-32] (Introduced 02/08/2019)
Committees:
House - Energy and Commerce
Latest Action:
House - 06/30/2020 Subcommittee Hearings Held. (All Actions)
Purpose:
To amend the Public Health Service Act to revise and extend projects relating to children and to provide access to school-based comprehensive mental health programs.
For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Stefan Cornibert, 202.419.4372, scornibert@pewresearch.org
One-third of Asian Americans fear threats, physical attacks and most say violence against them is rising
Eight-in-ten Asian Americans say violence against them is rising in the U.S.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 21, 2021) – Amid widespread reports of discrimination and violence against Asian Americans during the coronavirus outbreak, 32% of Asian adults say they have feared someone might threaten or physically attack them – a greater share than other racial or ethnic groups, a new Pew Research Center poll finds.
Most Asian American adults (81%) also say violence against them is increasing, far surpassing the share of all U.S. adults (56%) who say the same. The poll comes as the U.S. Senate today is scheduled to vote on legislation that aims to combat hate crimes against Asian Americans.
The new survey was conducted April 5 to 11, after the fatal shooting of six Asian women and two other people in the Atlanta area on March 16 and assaults on Asian Americans that occurred that same month (Asian adults were interviewed in English only).
Overall, 45% of Asian adults say they have experienced at least one of five specific offensive incidents since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. At the same time, 32% say someone has expressed support for them since the start of the pandemic.
Some 27% say people acted as if they were uncomfortable around them, down from 39% who said the same in June 2020. Another 27% say they have been subject to slurs or jokes, the same share as in 2020. Meanwhile, lower shares say someone has made a remark that they should go back to their home country (16%) or that they are to blame for the coronavirus outbreak (14%).
Asian respondents who say violence against their group in the U.S. is increasing give many reasons for the rise, according to an open-ended question in which people responded in their own words. One respondent mentioned that “they are blaming Asians for the coronavirus pandemic, thinking they bring this to our country,” while another cited “ignorant people placing a ‘blanket blame’ on Asians regarding the origin of COVID-19.”
Some 16% cited racism in the United States against Asian people as the source of violence, and another 15% said the rise in violence is due to COVID-19 and its impacts on the nation. An additional 12% said scapegoating and blaming Asian people for the pandemic has been responsible for the rise in violence against the U.S. Asian population.
The survey was conducted in English and Spanish using the Center’s American Trends Panel with a margin of error of 2.1 percentage points for the full sample of 5,109 US adults and 8.9 percentage points among the sample’s 352 Asian American adult respondents.
Pew Research Center will also explore this and other data on Asian Americans with a panel of experts in an online event on April 29. Information about the event and registration is available here.
Read the post: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/04/21/one-third-of-asian-americans-fear-threats-physical-attacks-and-most-say-violence-against-them-is-rising/
Methodology: https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/04/20/gun-policy-methodology/
Survey topline: https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021AsianAmericans_module_topline.pdf
For more information, or to arrange an interview with the study’s lead author, please contact Stefan Cornibert, scornibert@pewresearch.org or call 202-419-4372.
Sponsor:
Sen. Alexander, Lamar [R-TN] (Introduced 06/19/2019)
Committees:
Senate - Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Committee Meetings:
Latest Action:
Senate - 07/08/2019 Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 133. (All Actions)
Purpose:
This bill makes a series of changes relating to health care coverage, costs, and services. Among other things, the bill
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applies in-network cost-sharing requirements to certain emergency and related nonemergency services that are provided out-of-network, and prohibits health care facilities and practitioners from billing above the applicable in-network cost-sharing rate for such services;
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revises certain requirements in order to expedite the approval of generics and biosimilars, including requirements relating to citizen petitions, application effective dates, and labeling;
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requires health care facilities and practitioners to give patients a list of provided services upon discharge and to bill for such services within 45 days;
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limits prices that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) may charge health insurers or enrollees for prescription drugs, based on prices paid by PBMs to pharmacies;
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establishes grant programs to support vaccinations and data modernization; and
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requires health insurers to make certain information, including estimated out-of-pocket costs, accessible to enrollees through specified technology (e.g., mobile applications).
The bill also makes several additional changes relating to public health, including raising the minimum age to purchase tobacco products from 18 to 21.