Sens. Kerry, Snowe Introduce Bill to Reduce Medicare Cost Sharing for Mental Health Services
Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) introduced a bill May 8 that would reduce the coinsurance that Medicare beneficiaries pay for mental health treatments from 50% to 20%, States News Service/Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports. A recent surgeon general's report found that about 20% of seniors experience "symptoms of depression," as do 40% of all seniors living in health care facilities. The report also found that seniors have the highest rate of suicide in the United States. "We know that our seniors are often the most vulnerable to mental illnesses, yet we continue to make seniors pay an overly burdensome cost of treatment," Kerry said (States News Service/Worcester Telegram & Gazette, 5/9).
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