A bipartisan pair of lawmakers have reintroduced legislation to remove lifetime limits on inpatient psychiatric care for Medicare beneficiaries.
U.S. Reps. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., and Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., reintroduced the Medicare Mental Health Inpatient Equity Act July 22, according to a news release.
Currently, Medicare does not pay for more than 190 days of inpatient psychiatric care over a beneficiaries lifetime. More than 15,000 Medicare beneficiaries are at or within 15 days of the 190-day limit, according to the Medicare Payment and Advisory Commission.
Mr. Tonko and Mr. Huizenga introduced similar legislation in 2021 and 2023.
The bill is backed by more than three dozen mental health advocacy groups. In a piece published in Health Affairs in July, executives at Geisinger Health System and Acadia Healthcare called for the lifetime limit to be removed, calling it “out of step” with the chronic nature of mental illness and with policies for other types of care.
