From NAMI California:

Dear NAMI Members:

Your help is urgently needed to support better enforcement of mental health and substance use parity laws in California!

As you may know, the Final Rule on Mental Health Parity was adopted last year, and enforcement of those parity regulations was delegated to the states. NAMI California has been working as a part of a broad coalition to ensure that funding for parity enforcement was included in the state budget. Our coalition was successful in getting parity proposals introduced!

There are two parity enforcement proposals before Assembly Budget Subcommittee #1 on Health and Human Services and the members of the Committee and the Chair need to hear your support today! (See calling information at the bottom of this message.)

Senator Jim Beall has made a proposal in the state’s budget process to augment and improve the budget of the Department of Managed Health Care so that it can better enforce both state and federal parity laws in California. Another budget augmentation proposal, this one by the Department of Managed Care Services, would also appropriate additional money the Department needs to start enforcing parity in California.

Senator Beall’s proposal adds more consistent surveillance of managed care plan activities, augments staffing for the Department, and requires annual reporting of enforcement activities. When these are added to the budget augmentation requested by the Department the two proposals together become very powerful to give the Department the tools it needs to robustly enforce parity mandates against discrimination in health care in California and to do so transparently.

Call your member on the Committee RIGHT NOW!!  Or, if your legislator is not on the Committee or you are calling for your affiliate, call the office of the Chair.  The proposal will be heard at 1pm tomorrow in the Sub Committee hearing so time is of the essence.   If you can’t call today, please call between 9am and 12 pm tomorrow morning.  Affiliates that can should also send a representative to the Sub Committee hearing tomorrow for oral testimony.

Tell them:

1. You support BOTH proposals, the Department’s and Senator Beall’s.
2. Make certain you are clear that Senator Beall’s proposal adds to, and does not supplant the Departments proposal     And that both individually are very good proposals, together they are terrific!
3. Urge support for BOTH proposals when the item is considered by the Sub Committee tomorrow!

Here is a quick script you can follow:

“Hi, my name is ________, and I’m a member of NAMI (Affiliate). I’m calling to express my support for both the Department of Managed Health Care and Senator Jim Beall’s (pronounced Bell) budget proposal to enforce Mental Health Parity laws in California being heard tomorrow in Assembly Budget Subcommittee #1. Senator Beall’s proposal strengthens the Departments proposal by providing more resources for parity enforcement. I strongly urge your support!”

Assembly Budget Subcommittee #1 on Health and Human Services Contact Information

Please call NOW!!!

If you have any questions please contact our Legislation and Public Policy Director, Caliph Assagai, Esq., at Caliph.Assagai@namicalifornia.org.

Thank you,

NAMI California Advocacy Department