{"id":19838,"date":"2023-08-24T10:48:43","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T14:48:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&#038;p=19838"},"modified":"2023-08-24T10:48:43","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T14:48:43","slug":"senate-passes-sen-ossoffs-bipartisan-bill-to-boost-mental-health-care-access-for-servicemembers","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/senate-passes-sen-ossoffs-bipartisan-bill-to-boost-mental-health-care-access-for-servicemembers\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Passes Sen. Ossoff\u2019s Bipartisan Bill to Boost Mental Health Care Access for Servicemembers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ussen-my.sharepoint.com\/:v:\/g\/personal\/jake_best_ossoff_senate_gov\/Eb_BMSt1sfdOnWROUaGNT6AB2MP23aWdzNz6twp98nCsRg?e=SZZeXH\"><strong><em>WATCH\/DOWNLOAD: Sen. Ossoff speaks on passage of his bipartisan bill<\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong><em><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Atlanta, Ga. \u2014&nbsp;<\/strong>U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff has passed his bipartisan bill to expand servicemembers\u2019 access to mental health services through the U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sens. Ossoff and Mike Braun (R-IN) passed the bipartisan&nbsp;<em>Military Mental Health Professionals Support Act<\/em>&nbsp;as part of this year\u2019s&nbsp;<em>National Defense Authorization Act&nbsp;<\/em>to ensure servicemembers have access to the vital mental health care services they deserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Currently, mental and behavioral health specialists count toward caps on military personnel by rank, impacting recruitment and retention of mental health care providers. Sen. Ossoff\u2019s bipartisan bill would cut red tape by removing those caps and permitting more specialists to provide vital care to servicemembers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhenever I visit a defense installation in Georgia, I try to take time to sit down with junior-enlisted personnel and young military families. The impediments to accessing mental health services for military families is a real concern. That\u2019s why I brought Republicans and Democrats together to pass this legislation,\u201d<strong>&nbsp;Sen. Ossoff said.&nbsp;<\/strong>\u201cMy bipartisan bill will&nbsp;ensure our servicemembers, who make tremendous sacrifices in our country\u2019s defense, can access the mental health services they need while they defend our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sen. Ossoff continues to fight for Georgia\u2019s servicemembers and to champion mental health care access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last year, Sen. Ossoff\u2019s bipartisan bill to help Georgia veterans afford mental health and substance abuse treatment&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.albanyherald.com\/news\/ossoff-sponsored-veterans-health-bill-set-to-become-law\/article_2dabd30a-87b4-11ed-944f-930b365b2365.html\">became law<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier this year, Sens. Ossoff and Kevin Cramer (R-ND)&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.stripes.com\/theaters\/us\/2023-04-27\/military-mental-health-care-legislation-9937949.html\">introduced<\/a>&nbsp;the bipartisan&nbsp;<em>Military Families Mental Health Services Act<\/em>&nbsp;to allow the Secretary of Defense to waive out-of-pocket expenses for military families on TRICARE for their first three outpatient mental health visits per year, lowering costs and helping families access the treatment they need \u2014 which passed&nbsp;as part of this year\u2019s&nbsp;<em>National Defense Authorization Act<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/118\/bills\/s1621\/BILLS-118s1621is.pdf\">Click here<\/a>&nbsp;to read the bipartisan&nbsp;<em>Military Mental Health Professionals Support Act<\/em>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WATCH\/DOWNLOAD: Sen. Ossoff speaks on passage of his bipartisan bill Atlanta, Ga. \u2014&nbsp;U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff has passed his bipartisan bill to expand servicemembers\u2019 access to mental health services through the U.S. Senate. Sens. Ossoff and Mike Braun (R-IN) passed the bipartisan&nbsp;Military Mental Health Professionals Support Act&nbsp;as part of this year\u2019s&nbsp;National Defense Authorization Act&nbsp;to ensure [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19838","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/19838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/19838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19840,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/19838\/revisions\/19840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}