As we've all been reading in pretty much every newspaper everywhere, Congress
and the White House are close to a deal on reform of our vast health care
system. As with all matters in government, the devil is in the details of
defining terms, so the critical question becomes what exactly
"reform" will come to mean. Many will judge this question of meaning
by the inclusion, or not, of a public option plan. Others will use cost
containment and transparency in pricing as their metrics. Some will focus
mostly on whether the price of prescription drugs are contained and
generics made available more readily. Whatever the metric and whatever the
cause championed, this continues to be a difficult process.
As NAAP has been detailing over the past several months, we have been closely
following efforts by some of our professional colleagues to include their
services in federal reimbursement structures. These efforts and proposals
have been incomplete in that they do not include Psychoanalysis in the list of
professional services to be reimbursed. NAAP's conversations with Senators,
Members of Congress and appropriate staff have been generally well received and
have involved educating policy-makers on the differences between mental health
providers and the history of licensing and the internal arguments around those
earlier efforts. They have been fun discussions.
The House of Representatives' Health Care Reform Bill did include a provision,
among many half-baked schemes, to cover Marriage and Family Therapists and
Mental Health Counselors without referencing Psychoanalysts. The Senate - where
NAAP has had more substantive and productive conversations - did not include
such incomplete language in their bill. NAAP will continue to insist that that
it is necessary, fair and appropriate for any legislation seeking to include
"new" mental health professionals into the range of services available
to consumers of federal programs to include Psychoanalysts.
Psychoanalysis holds a place in the history of mental health care spanning over
100 years and has been sought out as a modality of treatment by consumers
throughout the U.S.
It should continue to be a choice of mental health care available to consumers
in parity with other forms of recognized mental health treatment. NAAP's
legislative priorities and activities will continue to be informed by these
beliefs. We will be following conversations between the House and Senate and
White House and expect that the Senate's reasonable approach and attitude
towards our concerns, and so many other issues, will prevail and that once
larger issues settle we will be able to press our case in a less chaotic and
charged environment.
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