Sharing this important announcement from our colleagues at the National Association of Medicaid Diretors

Dear Colleagues:

In service of more than 77 million Americans and with more than $600 billion invested in the health care delivery system annually, Medicaid can and will, inevitably, play a critical role in the hard work of recovering from the pandemic and establishing a “new normal” for American health care.

Medicaid directors across the country are serving hard-to-reach populations and contributing to care delivery solutions every day. As such, we wanted to harness their expertise and highlight their successes to help inform what the stronger, more rational American health care system coming out of the pandemic can and should look like. We are proud to share with you Medicaid Forward, a three-part series, with the first focusing on behavioral health.

Created in partnership with Well Being Trust – a national foundation dedicated to advancing the mental, social, and spiritual health of the nation – the Medicaid Forward: Behavioral Health report provides evidence-backed, sustainable policy and program solutions to improve Medicaid members’ mental health and well-being and support Medicaid programs during these unprecedented times. The report identifies policy options that would benefit all Medicaid members, as well as specific strategies for

• children,
• older adults,
• individuals who are homeless,
• individuals who have intellectual or developmental disabilities, and
• those who are in the criminal justice system.

The report is strengthened with real-life examples of communities that have demonstrated these approaches’ success from a diverse range of states – coastal and mid-continent, large and small, under Republican and Democrat control.

As the old saying goes, a crisis is a terrible thing to waste. With a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel just now emerging, we believe this is the moment to focus attention on Medicaid’s essential role in charting the future of the American health care system. If you agree, we hope you will help us amplify this work by:

• Reading this report and sharing it with your colleagues, and
• Posting the report on LinkedIn and Twitter. We have sample social media posts to make this faster and easier for you to do.
• Joining us on Friday, March 5 from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ET for a webinar about the Medicaid Forward series and this first paper focused on behavioral health. Click here to register.

We have a long road to recovery ahead, but Medicaid can and will be a constructive part of the solution. We look forward to working with you to make that happen.

Best,

Matt Salo
NAMD Executive Director