Parity Passes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello everyone ---I am so excited to share this news with you ---Parity passes!!! (overriding a veto by President Bush, nonetheless)

EDC News Alert: Medicare Bill with Mental Health Parity Becomes Law! HR.6331, The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act, passed last week after Congress had enough votes to override president Bush’s veto.

The Senate voted to override the President 70-26 and the House vote was 383-41. This
important bill includes a provision to provide for mental health parity for outpatient services in Medicare.

The bill makes long overdue improvements to Medicare by providing improved access to preventive services and parity in coverage for mental health services. It will also help more people with Medicare living below or just above the poverty level ($867 per month for an individual) get help with their drug costs and medical bills.

Also this bill will give doctors a modest pay raise instead of the drastic 10 percent Medicare pay cut that will take effect if Congress does not act. A pay cut could make more doctors reluctant to take on new Medicare patients and make it harder for older adults and people with disabilities to get the care they need. Additionally, HR.6331 will restrict the ability of insurance companies to use hard sell tactics for Medicare private health plans or to market plans without ensuring plan enrollees will have adequate access to doctors, specialists, local hospitals and other providers. It is these provisions—the ones that help people with Medicare and force insurance companies to change their practices—that prompted a veto threat from the Bush administration.

Mental health parity has been a public policy priority for the EDC for years. We are thrilled that our advocacy is paying off and that there will be parity in Medicare. America's senior citizens and those with disabilities should not have to pay more out of pocket for mental health services than for physical health services.

disappointment

more wisdom from DailyOM

July 4, 2008A Bridge To AcceptanceDealing With Disappointment

Whenever we do something in life with an expectation of how we’d like it to turn out, we risk experiencing disappointment. When things don’t go the way we had envisioned, we may feel a range of emotions from slightly let down to depressed or even angry. We might direct our feelings inward toward ourselves, or outward toward other people or the universe in general. Whether we feel disappointed by ourselves, a friend, or life in general, disappointment is always a tough feeling to experience. Still, it is a natural part of life, and there are many ways of dealing with it when we find ourselves in its presence. As with any feeling, disappointment has come to us for a reason, and we don’t need to fear acknowledging it or feeling it. The more we are able to accept how we are feeling and process it, the sooner we will move into new emotional territory. As we sit down to allow ourselves to feel our disappointment, we might want to write about the experience of being disappointed—the situation that preceded it, what we were hoping would happen, and what did happen. The gift of disappointment is its ability to bring us into alignment with reality so that we don’t get stuck for too long in the realm of how things might have been. As we consider other disappointments in our life and how we have moved past them, we may even see that in some cases what happened was actually better in the long run than what we had wanted to happen. Disappointment often leaves us feeling deflated with its message that things don’t always turn out the way we want. The beauty of disappointment, though, is that it provides us a bridge to its other side where the acceptance of reality, wisdom, and the energy to begin again can be found.

in the right mind...

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html

I highly encourage you to watch this video ...'til the VERY end :)

Thanks to my dear friend Eva for sending it my way! ~ Peace and good health, Kathleen