WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) introduced the Removing Medicare Mental Health Inpatient Limitations Act to eliminate the Medicare 190-day lifetime cap on inpatient psychiatric care.
“Louisiana seniors deserve easier access to the care they need,” said Dr. Cassidy. “By removing barriers to mental health care, we’re making their lives easier and providing peace of mind for their families.”
Under Section 1812 of the Social Security Act, inpatient psychiatric care under Medicare is limited to 190 days over a lifetime. The Removing Medicare Mental Health Impatient Limitations Act would erase this cap, ensuring seniors have complete and uninterrupted access to the mental health care they need.
The Removing Medicare Mental Health Inpatient Limitations Act is supported by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Legal Action Center, American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, Mental Health America, American Nurses Association, American Psychiatric Association, REDC Consortium, Oceans Healthcare, and the Eating Disorders Coalition for Research, Policy & Action.
“Medicare’s 190-day lifetime limit on inpatient psychiatric care is an outdated policy that creates an arbitrary barrier we would never accept for patients with cancer or any other chronic disease — and patients with serious behavioral health needs deserve no less. As Louisiana’s leading provider of inpatient psychiatric services, Oceans Healthcare has witnessed this inequity firsthand and Senator Cassidy’s bill is an important step in patient care, and we urge Congress to move it forward,” said Stuart Archer, CEO of Oceans Healthcare.
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