In addition to providing one-on-one services, Voices For Health addresses health care issues on a systemic level through legislative advocacy with a particular focus on filling in some of the gaps that the Affordable Care Act (“Obama Care”) left behind.

Our policy goals include, but are not limited to:

• Increase affordability of care for the “under-insured”
• Expand the number of providers treating stigmatized conditions who participate in insurance networks (network adequacy)”
• Address the shortage of qualified, accessible and affordable providers
• Ensure that insurance reimbursement rates for providers of stigmatized conditions is commensurate with rates for providers who treat other conditions (provider parity)
• Integrate awareness of mental health needs and services into primary care
• Increase government funding to support research for the treatment and prevention of stigmatized conditions, based on their incidence in the population, not the popularity of supporting one disease over another
• Require teachers to take a course on recognizing common mental health conditions in the classroom as a prerequisite to receiving their certification to teach in public schools
• Lower the recommended age for screening for certain cancers