[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 24254-24255]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



          SENIORS MENTAL HEALTH ACCESS IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2001

  Mr. THOMAS. Madam President, I rise today to make a few comments on a 
bill introduced earlier this week and about which I have not had a 
chance to talk. I introduced it along with Senator Lincoln of Arkansas. 
It is called the Seniors Mental Health Access Improvement Act of 2001.
  I am very happy to have had an opportunity to introduce this bill. It 
is important legislation, particularly for seniors living in rural 
areas. The bill is designed to provide more opportunities for seniors 
under Medicare to have professional assistance in areas where often 
there are shortages of providers, and this is designed to help that 
situation.
  It permits mental health counselors and marriage and family 
therapists to bill Medicare for their services, and it pays them at the 
rate of clinical social workers.
  It is particularly important in rural States, such as my State of 
Wyoming, where often there is a shortage of mental health providers, 
and so it requires a good deal of travel. On the other hand, there are 
trained social workers who are prepared to provide these services if 
they have an opportunity to do it under the Medicare Program. That is 
what this bill does.
  Currently, there are Medicare limitations on the types of mental 
health providers. Rural seniors are often forced to travel a good 
distance to take advantage of those services. Mental health counselors 
and marriage and family therapists are often the only mental health 
providers in a community. They have the same training and

[[Page 24255]]

education as clinical social workers. Social workers have been 
recognized by Medicare for 10 years.
  Seniors, of course, do have higher rates of suicide and depression 
than other populations. Therefore, it is very evident that this change 
is needed. We need to recognize the qualifications of these providers 
and ensure that seniors do have access to them.
  The majority of Wyoming communities are mental health professional 
shortage areas and probably will continue to be that way for some time. 
Because Medicare recognizes a limited number of mental health 
providers, Wyoming seniors have access to 537 providers, 247 social 
workers, and 121 psychiatrists.
  This bill will double the number of available Medicare mental health 
providers. Seventy-five percent of 518 national designated mental 
health professional shortage areas are in rural areas. Again, not a 
surprise.
  One-fifth of rural counties have no mental health services of any 
kind.
  Frontier counties, of course, as they are designated in terms of 
mental health providers, are in even more dire straits.
  Ninety-five percent do not have psychiatrists, 68 percent do not have 
psychologists, and 78 percent do not have social workers.
  I am proud to be an author of this bill, along with Senator Lincoln. 
I hope we will make some progress as soon as possible. It will perhaps 
not be this year, I imagine, but it will be as we move on into Medicare 
reform, which I think we will certainly undertake next year.

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