<p><span style="line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">Recent conferences such as the third national Primary Care/Behavioral Healthcare Summit and the Medicaid Working Group's Managed Care and Disability: Consumer Needs and Quality Measures explored ways that primary care health plans can include behavioral health care services.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">President Clinton today signed legislation designed to reform the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drug approval process. In addition to overhauling the drug approval process, the new law also renews the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), a popular law that assesses fees on pharmaceutical companies to hire additional FDA staff in order to more rapidly review their products' safety and efficacy.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">NAMI views the President’s proposed managed care Consumer Bill of Rights and Responsibilities released today as a necessary first step, but believes ongoing work is needed to assure quality and accountability for individuals with severe mental illnesses and their families.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">Discrimination against children with severe mental illnesses may persist under the federal government’s new health insurance plan for children, suggests a study released today that examines existing mental health coverage in 16 states.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">A paper published today (Nov. 12) in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) provides further evidence that equitable health insurance is affordable, according to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI).</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) today expressed shock and dismay about a decision by Maine voters to retain a provision in the state's Constitution prohibiting individuals under guardianship due to mental illness from voting.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) today announced the establishment of a first-of-a-kind center that will push for timely and effective treatment for the estimated 2.2 million individuals with severe psychiatric disorders who don't get care when they most need it.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) today released a survey of American businesses indicating little resistance by employers to comply with The Mental Health Parity Act of 1996. Special interest lobbyists are attempting to influence the White House to weaken the law just ten weeks before it is scheduled to take effect.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">With less than three months before landmark legislation ending insurance discrimination against mental illnesses takes effect, lack of political will threatens to undermine this important first step toward fair treatment of people with serious brain disorders.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">A state legislator from Texas, one of the country's leading advocates for fair and equitable treatment of serious mental illnesses, has been appointed to the board of directors of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI).</span></p>
NAMI HelpLine is available M-F, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. ET. Call 800-950-6264,
text “helpline” to 62640, or chat online. In a crisis, call or text 988 (24/7).
