Federal Policy
On December 8th, the House of Representatives passed 15 health-related bills, including two bills that 2020 Mom has supported: the Stillbirth Health Improvement and Education (SHINE) for Autumn Act (H.R. 5487) and the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act (H.R. 1667).
On December 7th, Vice President Kamala Harris hosted the first-ever White House Maternal Health Day of Action. The Day of Action included a Summit that was composed of three panels, as well as a Call to Action, outlining steps the federal government will take to improve maternal health outcomes.
Over the past two months, several U.S. Senate offices have released requests for information (RFIs), seeking input from stakeholder groups about how to address mental health and addiction issues in the U.S. Specifically, the following Senators requested comments from stakeholders:
The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-34) was the inception of the child tax credit (CTC), which was created to ease the financial burden to families with children. Over the years, the CTC has expanded from an upper- and middle-class benefit, to a tax benefit that lower-income families can claim. The CTC allows taxpayers to reduce their federal income liability up to $2,000 per child aged 0-16 years of age. In the event the value of the credit exceeds the amount of tax a family owes, the family may be eligible to receive a full or partial refund of the difference.
Last week, the House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act, a $1.75 trillion legislative package that aims to address social welfare. It will be considered by the Senate in the weeks ahead. In addition to critical maternal mental health legislation included in the package, several other provisions that impact moms are currently included in the package as well:
Government Accountability Office (GAO) Report on Maternal Mortality and Morbidity among Rural Populations
Earlier this year, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the federal government oversight and assessment office, released a report titled, Maternal Mortality and Morbidity: Additional Efforts Needed to Assess Program Data for Rural and Underserved Areas.
In 1993 the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was passed into law, marking the first national unpaid leave policy. The law, which applies to employers with 50 or more employees, stipulates eligible workers can take up to 12 weeks of FMLA leave to care for a newborn or newly adopted child; to care for a spouse, child or parent with a serious medical condition; to recover from a serious health condition themselves; or to take military family leave.
On July 29th, the full House of Representatives passed an appropriations minibus package that included the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (L-HHS) funding bill for fiscal year (FY) 2022 (October 1, 2021 - September 30, 2022). The L-HHS bill includes increased funding for several mental health, maternal health, substance use, and other public health programs. The bill passed along party lines with a vote of 219-208.
According to a press release issued by the Shades of Blue Project, host of the official Black Maternal Mental Health Week (BMMHW) awareness campaign, “Cultural barriers and lack of representation in the mental health field continue to limit Black women from seeking help” for maternal mental health care.
On July 15th, the House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee considered and passed its fiscal year (FY) 2022 (October 1, 2021 - September 30, 2022) Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (L-HHS) funding bill. Building upon the work of the L-HHS Subcommittee on July 12th, the full Committee, which is led by Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and “Ranking Member” Kay Granger (R-TX), recommends increased funding for many mental health, maternal health, substance use, and other public health programs.
On July 12th, the House of Representatives’ Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (L-HHS) “marked up” and passed their proposed federal funding bill for fiscal year (FY) 2022, which will begin on October 1, 2021, and end on September 30, 2022.
2020 Mom champions a new bill calling for the formation of a federal interdepartmental maternal mental health task force and strategic plan to identify opportunities, coordinate resources, and build upon programs to improve the well-being of mothers.
In February, the Black Maternal Health Momnibus was reintroduced by members of the Black Maternal Health Caucus.
The bill package built on and refined the prior and first Black Maternal Health Momnibus introduced last year, in the 116th congress, to comprehensively address America’s maternal health crisis and specifically the significant disparities that exist for Black and other women of color.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Surgeon General announced on Thursday a coordinated agency plan and Surgeon General call to action to urgently reduce maternal mortality (reduce preventable pregnancy-related & associated deaths) and improve maternal health in the U.S.
The HHS plan is comprehensive and includes a focus on implementing evidence-based measures to reduce maternal mortality by as much as half in five years.
The following media release was recently distributed by the Federal Communications Commission. This line was funded in part as a result of national nonprofit advocacy organizations like 2020 Mom.
FCC DESIGNATES ‘988’ AS 3-DIGIT NUMBER FOR NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION HOTLINE
WASHINGTON, July 16, 2020—Today, the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules to establish 988 as the new, nationwide, 3-digit phone number for Americans in crisis to connect with suicide prevention and mental health crisis counselors.
This week the U.S. House Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (LHHS) appropriations subcommittee released the Full Year 2021 LHHS bill. This is the first step of many for the Federal appropriations process. These proposed funding levels are subject to change as each chamber considers its respective appropriations bills over the next couple of months. However, this bill is an important indication of the House Committee’s priorities.
2020 Mom is proud to support the ‘‘Military Moms’ Mental Health Assessment Act’’ (“The Act”) which was introduced last week by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Tim Kaine (D-VA).
The Act will require the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a study of prenatal and postpartum mental health conditions among members of the Armed Forces and their dependents.
The Bill Recognizes:
The bill cites 2018 birth stats within the Armed Forces - where over 50,000 members and their dependents gave birth at a combination of military medical treatment facilities and civilian hospitals, funded by the Department of Defense.
Washington, DC – In May, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) announced that Joy Burkhard, MBA was selected to serve as an expert advisor for their Cross-Sectional Innovation to Improve Rural Postpartum Mental Health Challenge.
The challenge aims to drive both proposal and narrative submissions, allowing the initiative to highlight success stories in rural postpartum mental health and encourage future innovative approaches.
A new Center for Disease Control (CDC) study finds that around 1 in 8 women report experiencing symptoms of maternal depression. The analysis, which looked at 2018 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring Survey (PRAMS) data from 30 states and Puerto Rico, found that rates of “postpartum depression” symptoms ranged from a little under 10% in Illinois to almost 24% in Mississippi.
The U.S. has the highest suicide rates among wealthy nations, according to a new report that looked at how health and care in the U.S. stacks up globally. In 2016, the suicide rate here was 13.9 suicide deaths per 100,000 people — while the U.K. had the lowest rate of the 11 high-income countries in the report, at 7.3 suicides per 100,000 people.
At the same time, another new report from the Well Being Trust highlights 4% of insurance payments went to mental health care in 2017 and that Americans continue to have to go out of network to find treatment.
On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed the Budget bill averting a government shut-down and funding a Maternal Mental Health interagency Task Force. The Health and Human Services (HHS) Agency is tasked with convening a task force of various federal agencies including:
The Office of Women's Health,
The Surgeon General,
The Health Resources and Services Administration Maternal Child Health Bureau (HRSA), and the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and more.
Common and Costly Expenditures Associated with the Birth of Children in 2017 Amount to More than $14 Billion
If you ask people what they think the most common medical complication is during and after childbirth, you probably won’t hear mental health issues. Yet maternal mental health (MMH) disorders — including prenatal and postpartum depression and anxiety — top the list, affecting at least one in seven women. In addition to the substantial human toll of these conditions, they come with a hefty price tag, especially because women who have them often go untreated.
The United States has the worst maternal death rates of any developed country, with Black women dying at 3-4 times the rates of white women, this rate remains unchanged when accounting for income, education and economic status. Maternal death rates for women overall in the U.S. doubled in the past 25 years, meaning that women today have a higher risk of dying at childbirth than their mothers, and the disparities that Black women face have been around for decades. For every maternal death in the country, 70 women face a life-threatening and too often, life-altering complication.
We had the opportunity to pull leaders in the field together to review the draft USPSTF recommendation. To learn what was discussed read more here.
It has now become more well known that maternal mental health disorders are the most common complication of pregnancy and childbirth.
In 2017, after the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) overturned its position to recommend screening for maternal depression, the United States Preventive Service Task Force (USPSTF) changed its position to now recommend maternal depression screening.
Now, in 2019, the USPSTF released one of the firsts of its kind, a recommendation for a clinical intervention to prevent a potential disorder, not just screen for it retrospectively. The disorder? Maternal depression. The recommendation was published in on the USPSTF website and in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) Network.
This week, I head to Washington DC to meet with members of Congress about maternity care.
I will be joined by several colleagues from non-profit organizations, including leaders from groups like Every Mother Counts, The Preeclampsia Foundation, Improving Birth and March for Moms. With more women ever serving in congress, it’s a particularly exciting time to address women’s health and maternity issues.
We have been asked to share what we believe should be the highest priorities in improving maternity care. This includes maternal mental health.
If I were in position to write two federal laws, this is what I’d write.
We’ve had a few surreal moments in maternal mental health this fall, this one is definitely a moment that the maternal mental health community should be jumping up and down about.
In September the federal government’s Health and Human Services Agency (HRSA) announced it has awarded 4.5 million in grants to seven lucky states to address maternal mental health over five years (2018-2023).
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently released a draft recommendation addressing screening women at risk in order to provide counseling as preventive care: Perinatal Depression: Preventive Interventions. You might recall
Today, September 10 is International Suicide Awareness and Prevention Day, and it’s time to talk about maternal suicide including maternal suicide reporting in the U.S.
The United Kingdom last reported that suicide is its #1 cause of maternal mortality. Just three days ago, Japan announced the same.
Washington D.C. has always been a place that draws me. It is a place of action, compromise, debate, activism. Needless to say, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to be a part of this year’s Advocacy Days with 2020 Mom. I would like to take a moment to share three aspects of the few days in D.C. that were most impactful and memorable to me.
2020 Mom is committed to advancing federal policies that improve maternal mental health. Through our federal policy development and advocacy efforts, we have made great strides in the past year.