Upcoming Schedule of Events

Legislative Work

Less than a week of the current two-year legislative session remains. That means that Governor Brown will likely spend the coming weekend reviewing bills. His deadline is midnight, Sunday, September 30th.

 

Here is a summary of the bills NAMI California worked on this year:

Bill #/Author	Subject	NAMI CA Position	Current Status
AB 154/Beall	Behavioral Health Parity	Co-sponsor & Support	Incorporated into AB 1453 & SB 951
AB 327/Davis	Redefine Third Strike	Support	Dead
AB 683/  Ammiano	Homelessness Data	Support	Dead
AB 826/Atkins	Healthy Families Transition	Support	Dead
AB 1453/Monning	Essential Health Benefits	Support	Governor's Desk
AB 1569/Allen	Extension - AB 1421	Support	Governor Signed
AB 1709/Mitchell	Jury Trials for Youth	Support	Dead
AB 2134/Chesbro	New AB 1421 Requirements	Oppose	Dead
SB 9/Yee	Parole Possibility for Teen Offenders	Support	Governor's Desk
SB 60/Evans	State Hospital Risk vs Treatment Evaluations	Oppose	Dead
SB 119/Lowenthal	Emergency Youth Shelter Facilities	Support	Dead
SB 542/Price	Inmate Welfare Fund	Support	Governor's Desk

Note that some of the bills are still on the governor's desk and the related support letters are available to you on the Advocacy & Legislation page of the NAMI California website.

 

Work on a whole new set of bills will begin in January for the 2013/2014 legislative session.

 

2014 Expanded Access to Healthcare

If you are without health insurance right now and do not fit into any of the new options to access healthcare, January 2014 seems far in the future. However, people who are trying to make the expansion work well find the very same date just around the corner. The Health Benefit Exchange (HBEX) and the Department of Health Care Services are working on several aspects including Consumer Assistance/Ombudsman Options and the Service Center plan.

 

NAMI members should weigh in on these issues because they affect all users of the systems AND because it is the Massachusetts experience that people with behavioral health challenges remain uninsured in higher numbers than any other group in spite of the availability of insurance. Something is not working correctly there and California should not repeat that experience.

 

Here are some options to consider. Please let us know what you think.

• Option 1: Refer to existing regulatory entities. Under this option the Exchange would minimize its role in consumer assistance by referring enrollees to existing state regulatory agencies for consumer assistance for matters related to care and services of plans contracted by the Exchange.

• Option 2: Establish internal non-regulatory assistance capacity within the Exchange. Under this option, the Exchange would create, fund, and staff its own non-regulatory consumer assistance services for Exchange enrollees but would not support external independent referral or assistance processes.

• Option 3: Partner with regulatory entities and provide interim support for non-regulatory independent assistance. Under this option, the Exchange would partner with the DMHC and CDI to expand the scope of existing consumer assistance functions to assure that Exchange enrollees and eligible individuals have access to independent consumer assistance services.

• Option 4: Contract directly with non-regulatory independent consumer assistance programs. Under this option, the Exchange would directly fund expansion of the services provided by non-regulatory independent consumer assistance programs to Exchange enrollees and eligible individuals.

I believe I have spotted my favorite. Please let us know this week what you think.

 

-- Bettie Reinhardt, MPH

NAMI CAN! Coordinator

Bettie.reinhardt@namicalifornia.org 

• DAY 1
  September 27, 2012
  Loma Linda University Behavioral Health Institute
  1st Floor Classroom
  1686 Barton Road
  Redlands, CA 92373
  Call-in Number: 866-817-6550
  Code: 319037   Agenda  

• DAY 2
  September 28, 2012
  The Mission Inn Spanish Art Gallery
  3649 Mission Inn Ave
  Riverside, CA 92501
  Call-in Number: 866-817-6550
  Code: 3190377  Agenda 

A class action settlement will provide money  to California residents who were 18 years old or
older and who paid for any portion of the price of  the prescription antidepressant Paxil® while living
in California from January 14, 1999 through January 1, 2003, and who qualify under the settlement
(these people are called "Class Members"). If you're  included, you may ask for a payment, or you can
exclude yourself from, or object to, the settlement.

The Superior Court for the State of California, County of Los Angeles will have a hearing to decide whether to approve the settlement so that payments can be issued. The lawsuit claims that GlaxoSmithKline falsely advertised and promoted Paxil® as being non-habit forming or non-addictive and that GlaxoSmithKline's advertisements and promotional materials failed to disclose the risk of symptoms from stopping or discontinuing Paxil®. GlaxoSmithKline denies each of these allegations.

Click here for details.