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SAMHSA Starts Health Reform Education Work at Community Level

4 April 2012 One Comment

Through SAMHSA’s Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy, the Center for Social Innovation has announced awards of $25,000 each to eight peer-run/recovery community organizations.  These eight organizations will work within their states to increase public awareness about behavioral health services available through the Affordable Care Act.
Each site has an opportunity to innovate as a means of connecting with different organizations in their state and the general public.  Aside from focusing on the behavioral health services that are available through the ACA, organizations are to take an in-depth look at eligibility and enrollment in their state.
SAMHSA plans to use tactics and materials developed by the eight organizations to help inform SAMHSA’s enrollment and eligibility strategy.  Through the eight organizations, SAMHSA will receive a unique perspective on eligibility and enrollment of a population that has historically had difficulty in acquiring and maintaining health insurance coverage.  With January 1, 2014 approaching quickly, enrollment and eligibility is the next big area SAMHSA is tackling regarding the ACA.  Already, research has been done regarding the prevalence of serious mental illness and substance use disorders among the uninsured.  Of the 37 Million people currently uninsured, SAMHSA has found that[1]:
- Of the 18 million uninsured individuals below 139% of the Federal Poverty Level (15,526 for an individual and $32,040 for a family of four):

• 7% have a serious mental illness
• 14.2% have a substance use disorder

- Of the 19.9 million uninsured individuals between 133% – 399% of the Federal Poverty Level ($14,968 – $44,568 for an individual and $30,887 – $91,970 for a family of four):

• 6% have a serious mental illness
• 14.6% have a substance use disorder

Recognizing the importance of addressing these important populations, SAMHSA is working towards addressing the enrollment and eligibility process  through state and provider technical assistance, learning collaboratives, the development of outreach materials and the adoption of enrollment assistance best practices in an effort to be ready for January 1, 2014.  The eight organizations are just the start of SAMHSA’s enrollment and eligibility activities, look for more in the near future.
The eight organizations are:

Organization	State
Albuquerque Center for Hope and Recovery	New Mexico
Amistad, Inc.	Maine
California Association of Addiction Recovery Resources	California
Friends of Recovery-Vermont	Vermont
Helping Ourselves Pursue Enrichment, Inc.	Arizona
Missouri Recovery Network	Missouri
On Our Own of Maryland, Inc.	Maryland
Restoration Society, Inc.	New York

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[1] Sources: 2008 – 2010 National Survey of Drug Use and Health