Improve Care

NAMI believes all people with Medicaid coverage should have access to non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) services and opposes efforts by state or federal governments to limit or eliminate this benefit. NEMT is a critical benefit for people with mental health conditions that supports regular use of health care services.

NAMI urges all states to expand Medicaid, as indicated in the Affordable Care Act, to ensure more people with mental illness have access to essential health care services and supports.

NAMI believes that federal Medicaid law should be modified to allow for payment of mental health treatment delivered in inpatient settings known as IMDs, or “institutions of mental disease.” People with mental illness should have access to a full range of treatment options and inpatient psychiatric care is an essential component of some people’s treatment.

NAMI opposes any effort to take Medicaid coverage away from people who don’t meet a work requirement. Work requirements compromise access to care for people with mental health conditions and hampers their ability to maintain or seek employment.

NAMI believes that all people with mental health conditions who are incarcerated deserve access to quality mental health treatment. NAMI supports the continuation of Medicaid coverage for people with mental health conditions who are justice-involved and calls for the repeal of the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy.

NAMI believes that people with mental illness deserve access to effective medications that treat their mental illness. Specifically, NAMI supports Medicare’s successful “six protected classes” policy, which ensures that people with the most complex conditions have access to a broad spectrum of medications.

NAMI believes that people with mental illness deserve access to mental health care services without arbitrary limits on treatment. NAMI opposes Medicare’s 190-day lifetime limit on inpatient psychiatric hospital care and supports eliminating this harmful provision.