Ted Deutch: “I thank my Florida colleague, Representative Castor, for her leadership in protecting access to high-quality healthcare…”

“I thank my Florida colleague, Representative Castor, for her leadership in protecting access to high-quality healthcare in our State and across the country and for her authorship of the ENROLL Act to help more Americans shop for and sign up for health plans on healthcare.gov. My amendment requires navigators to provide information in plain language about the 10 essential health benefits that are a part of every healthcare.gov plan: outpatient hospital care; emergency care; hospitalization; pregnancy, maternity, and newborn care; mental health and substance use disorder services; prescription medicines; rehabilitative services; labs; preventive care; and pediatric care, including dental and vision services. It also requires navigators to help consumers understand their protections under the Mental Health Parity Act. According to a survey commissioned by the American Psychological Association, only 4 percent of Americans were familiar with the mental health parity law as of 2014, and just 7 percent were aware of mental health parity more broadly. Those numbers didn't change from the time of passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 through the first years of enrollment in 2014. Mental health parity means insurance companies can't discriminate against Americans battling addiction in the opioid crisis.…”