MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR ALL
All people should have access to affordable and comprehensive health care, including mental health care. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, passed in late June, was the largest investment in mental health and substance use treatment in more than 50 years. We must send Becca to Congress to build upon its successes.
BECCA WILL BE A CHAMPION IN CONGRESS FOR MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR ALL.
Mental health is something we all have, and when we struggle with a mental health challenge, we should have access to treatment. Becca has been one of the millions of Americans who balances day-to-day life with depression and anxiety. Increasing access to care, by eliminating barriers to care, expanding prevention, treatment, and recovery services, and promoting integration will be a key priority for Becca in Congress.
Over half of U.S. counties have no psychiatrists, 70% do not have a child psychiatrist, and even in areas that have mental health providers, there are often not enough to meet the need. Many who need mental health or substance use care have difficulty finding a provider who is trained to address issues specific to disability, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status. Becca will work to expand this critical workforce and ensure folks can receive culturally competent care.
Roughly one in four adults who live with a mental illness also have a substance use disorder. Drug overdoses are the current leading cause of accidental death in the U.S., with more than 1,000 daily emergency department visits related to opioid misuse. Folks experiencing both these challenges are falling through the cracks. We need to provide the necessary resources to treat this like the public health crisis that it is.
Transform Systems for Access
Health care is a human right. For millions of Americans, timely access to appropriate care is one of the biggest barriers to wellness. With a national average wait time of 48 days, it is time to transform how and where people get treatment and support.
Integration
If we want to improve access, we have to empower care providers with the tools, staffing, and structures to do their best work. Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) integrate mental health and substance use disorder care with other required services like peer support and 24-hour crisis services. Becca will support the ongoing expansion of the innovative and successful CCBHC program.
Crisis Response
When someone is having a mental health crisis, a qualified professional should be dispatched to respond. Becca will support legislation, like the Mental Health Justice Act, that supports states and local governments to train mental health professionals in crisis response strategies including de-escalation, anti-racism, and disability awareness training. This helps people in crisis get the professional care they need, and law enforcement officers, firefighters, and EMTs do the work they are trained to do.
Leverage Technology
Permanently removing many of the regulatory restrictions on telehealth that were temporarily lifted at the start of the pandemic access will drastically increase treatment options for millions of people living with a mental health or substance use challenge. Becca supports legislation that would expand telehealth services, including the Advancing Telehealth Beyond Covid-19 Act, which just passed the House in July.
Youth
In Vermont, and across the country, youth mental health needs are on the rise. We must commit to robustly funding and staffing social service programs and take steps that enable all schools to increase their students’ access to appropriate mental health supports, including helping them partner with community organizations and individuals who can provide on-site care, and investing in social-emotional learning.
In Congress, Becca will support legislation like the Mental Health Services for Students Act, which provides funding for public schools across the country to partner with local mental health professionals to establish on-site mental health care services for students.
Becca will support expanding Pediatric Mental Health Care Access Grants to allow mental health training and technical assistance to primary care providers who serve pediatric populations in emergency departments, state/local/tribal education agencies, and elementary and secondary schools.
Housing
People with stable housing are more likely to find health care and stay with a health provider or treatment program. Becca believes in Housing First, because folks are better prepared to move forward with treatment, education, and employment if they have a safe place to live. Becca has been a champion of affordable housing for all and she is ready to be a housing champion in Congress. Read more about Becca’s Housing for All Plan here.
Workforce
We are experiencing a national workforce shortage that has drastically impacted every industry, including mental health care. While major concerns over the lack of mental health providers predate the pandemic, COVID-19 hurt an already strained system. Clinician burnout is a serious issue that must be tackled. We need policy solutions that tackle inadequate pay and benefits, increase access to education, and protect worker rights to build a more diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce. When Becca gets to Congress she will support:
Educational Pipeline
Student debt is holding back our workforce. Almost all student debt - 97% - is held by people making less than $150,000 a year, and the vast majority of that debt is held by BIPOC students and graduates. Becca is ready to support the Biden administration in following through on their promise to cancel $10,000 of student debt, and she is ready to push the administration to do more. But this is only the first step: we need to make college, and all post-high school education, affordable for everyone.
Paid Leave
In Congress, Becca will fight for a robust, permanent national paid family and medical leave program - for our workers, our small businesses, and our communities.
Child care
Our healthcare providers can’t show up for us if we don’t show up for them. That’s why in Congress, Becca will support the Universal Child Care and Early Learning Act. This must-pass bill would ensure universal access to child care and guarantee affordability while investing in early educators.
Unions
No one should have to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet. Unions built the middle class, and now it’s time we supported unions so we can rebuild it. If elected, Becca would proudly support the PRO Act, which would restore workers’ rights to form a union and freely bargain.
Trauma-Informed Workforce
Becca supports the RISE From Trauma Act, which will expand the trauma-informed workforce in health care settings, social services, schools, and the justice system, as well as among first responders, while increasing resources for communities to address the impact of trauma.
Peer Support
Peer support specialists with lived experience having mental health conditions and/or substance use disorders can be an effective tool for tackling mental health challenges in the workplace. When these folks receive training, they can support others, offer tools, and connect people to relevant resources.
Becca also supports the continued adoption and expansion of CCBHCs, which require offering peer services as part of certification. She also supports legislation like the HERO Act, which would provide critical mental health resources to our nation’s first responders and health care providers, including creating peer support programs.
Address the Substance Use Crisis
Last year more than 100,000 people lost their lives to drug overdoses, a 15% increase over the year before. Becca will work to remove regulatory hurdles that prevent access to life saving medication-assisted treatment (MAT), expand access to care for the most vulnerable people, and improve prescriber education practices.
Becca supports the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act which would help ensure that more Americans grappling with substance use disorders have access to evidence-based treatment that can save lives.
Currently, incarcerated individuals cannot access substance use disorder treatment care through Medicaid. Recently released individuals are roughly 129 times more likely to die of a drug overdose during this time compared to the general population. The Medicaid Reentry Act would expand access to substance use disorder treatment and other health services for Medicaid-eligible individuals 30 days before their release from jail or prison.
The Medication Access and Training Expansion Act would standardize opioid addiction treatment and training for prescribers of controlled substances. This bill would prevent stigma toward and development of substance use disorders.
