Bipartisan Mental Health Caucus Members Urge HHS to Abandon Changes to ‘Six Protected Classes’

​In a letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar, House Mental Health Caucus Co-chairs Grace Napolitano (D-NY) and John Katko (R-NY) urged HHS not to move forward with harmful changes to Medicare’s Six Protected Classes Policy. The bipartisan letter — signed by 39 House members — states that the proposed changes are “particularly worrisome” for Medicare beneficiaries living with mental illness, noting that the change “directly targets” some of the program’s most vulnerable populations. “CMS has stated that patients will be able to use the lengthy appeals and exceptions processes to gain coverage for medicines if plans deny access to needed medicines,” the letter states. “However, those processes are difficult for patients to navigate and are likely to become overwhelmed with patients desperate to stay on the medicines they have been using to successfully manage complex conditions.” 

The letter in its entirety can be read here. 

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