Social Work Student Alliance (SWSA) ALERT forTuesday, October 7, 2008
Campaign Forum next week!
Remember that TUH´s Social Work Student Alliance is hosting a forum on Thursday, October 9th from 6-8pm in TUH Room 246. The forum replaces the October Alliance Public Meeting which would have been scheduled for the second Tuesday of the month.
The forum will be a non-partisan event featuring representatives from the Democratic, Green, Libertarian and Republican presidential campaigns. Representatives will speak for fifteen minutes on their candidate´s platforms. There will then be a one-hour question and answer session to address and further inform the audience on specific issues and/or policy proposals. This event will not be a debate on issues; it will focus on educating the audience.
Seating is limited, but tickets are still available and required for admission! To obtain your see any Alliance team member or Kari Leaver in the SSA office.
The Alliance is now issuing Certificates of Attendance for all students attending Alliance Public Meetings. Some professors have indicated they will offer extra credit for the certificates, but that is solely up to the discretion of the professor. To obtain a certificate for the Campaign Forum, please PRINT your name on the back of your ticket. Your certificate will be placed in your mail folder by October 20th.
President Signs Mental Health Parity
Congratulations to NASW members who have long advocated passage of mental health and addiction services parity legislation. Just this afternoon the House passed the final mental health parity bill by a strong vote margin (263-171) and the President has already signed the bill into law. The Senate voted earlier this week to add parity language (the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008) to the much larger Wall Street rescue, tax and disaster relief bill (H.R. 1424). The House subsequently agreed to the Senate´s version of the bill this afternoon. The new federal law will provide mental health and addiction services parity for about 113 million Americans who work for employers with 50 employees or more.
Background
NASW members and thousands of other mental health advocates have battled for years to enact federal mental health parity legislation for private insurance coverage. Throughout this year, advocates have made more progress toward enactment than at anytime since our efforts began. Over the past two weeks, Senate and House leaders struggled to bring mental parity to the floor before Congress adjourns for the elections. Our last major problem was a congression al rule requiring a "pay-for" to offset the impact of implementing parity on federal revenues (estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to cost $3.8 billion over 10 years). Congressional budget rules require legislation with a fiscal impact to include either increases in revenues or decreases in spending to remain budget neutral. The Senate earlier this week added our parity bill to the huge Wall Street bailout bill as an enticement to gain House approval for the highly controversial package. This final strategy has now proven successful, ensuring the parity bill would be signed into law quickly by the President.
NASW greatly appreciate social workers´ continued commitment to support passage of this landmark legislation. At this time we don´t have a detailed analysis of the law, but more information will be forthcoming. Members interested in seeing the full text of the soon to be signed federal mental health parity law may view it beginning on page 310 of this bill:
H.R. 1424 Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
Congratulations to all NASW advocates, it was a hard fought and truly critical victory!
Source: NASW Advocacy (advocacy@naswdc.org) via Dr. Claudia Dewane (cdewane@temple.edu)
Women and the Health Insurance Industry
This announcement comes to us from the Housing Development Corporation in Mountville, PA:
Should health insurance companies be allowed to charge a woman a higher premium than a man? Should a woman be denied health insurance because she had a Caesarean section? And worse yet, should a woman be denied health insurance because she is a survivor of domestic violence? The individual health insurance market is failing women. And now a number of prominent health care reform proposals are trying to expand this broken part of our health care system.
Join us on Thursday, Oct. 16, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern for a special webinar to learn more about how the individual health insurance market fails women. Many Americans don´t know how harmful the individual health insurance market is because they receive their health insurance through an employer. It is more important than ever to know how this unregulated part of our system hurts women. During our special webinar, the National Women´s Law Center will share the findings from our recently released report, Nowhere to Turn: How the Individual Health Insurance Market Fails Women.
Participants will find out more about:
How difficult it is for women to get approved for coverage on the individual health insurance market;
How if they do get coverage, women often face higher premiums than men; and
How if women do find coverage they can afford, it may not be comprehensive enough to meet their needs.
Learn the facts today so you can be ready to fight for health care reform that works for women. Register for our webinar taking place on Thursday, Oct. 16, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and learn about how the individual health insurance harms women´s health. Also, visit our Reform Matters site and learn more about health care that meets the needs of women. Thank you for continuing to fight with us for affordable, comprehensive health care for women and their families.
Source: Jayme Smith, Housing Development Corp. (Jsmith@hdcweb.com)
Job Posting:
Bethanna has an opening for a Foster Care Supervisor at the Lancaster office. A Master´s Degree in Social Work or a related field and supervisory experience is required. Experience in foster care is preferred. Send resumes to:
G.Osei
1030 Second Street Pike
Southampton, PA 18966
Phone: 215.355.6500 ext. 236 or Fax: 215.355.8847
Source: Lynn Notestine (Lynn.notestine@temple.edu)
