Congress could pass the first major healthcare reform since the Affordable Care Act next week.
The US House of Representatives approved the measure with bipartisan support last week and the US Senate is expected to take up the bill next week, and possibly send it to President Barack Obama’s desk for his signature.
"This bill authorizes several important new programs that will help identify mental illness sooner,” said Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy during a press conference Friday.
The 21st Century Cures Act includes key elements of the Mental Health Reform Act of 2016 which was championed by both of Connecticut’s US Senators.
There was also pressure from Sandy Hook Promise, a group that includes families of victims from the 2012 massacre.
Mark Barden, who lost his son Daniel in the Newtown shooting, said the reform “will offer life-saving solutions.”
The reforms include more access to providers by incentivizing “one stop shopping” for mental health services when considered in the broader context of healthcare.
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Sen. Murphy said there are incentives , “So you don't have to go to one provider to get your knee fixed and another provider to get your brain treated."
If it becomes law, there would be more access for family members to a mental health patient’s records under certain circumstances. Murphy says confusion over privacy laws has led to families being left out of the loop when their input or intersection could have been beneficial.
"The legislation puts parents back in the game when their adult children are struggling by making it clear that parents can share information with parents of adult children when it's in the best interests of that patient,” Murphy said.
Even though the law falls well short of being able to insure that no mass shooting happens in the future, Barden says he wishes the law was in place prior to December 2012.
"My son's killer was suffering mental illness,” he said. “We know his mother didn't know what to do with him and I will tell you I lie awake at night thinking if something like the mental health reform act of 2016 was in place then that the quality mental healthcare would have been available to him."
Liberal senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have opposed the reforms, saying the broader health bill provides gifts for pharmaceutical companies.
Murphy says he hopes enough members vote across party lines to ensure the bill makes it to President Obama’s desk during the lame duck session.
