1. United States
2. Ore.
3. Letter

As a Licensed Professional Counselor with nearly 20 years of experience in the mental health field. I am writing to express my deep concerns regarding the lack of fairness and transparency from the insurance companies in particular following the Optum hack from several months ago. Mental health professionals are highly trained and provide life saving services. We deserve to be paid living wages and insurance companies are allowed to take advantage of their position of power, their lack of oversight, and they must be held accountable for their greed and the harm they are causing to providers and patients alike. Providers are being forced to make the impossible choice of no longer accepting insurance in order to be able to make a living wage. This choice puts mental healthcare out of reach for thousands of citizens during a time in history in which there are more people seeking help than ever before. Quality, accessible healthcare is the right of all humans especially in the wealthiest nation on earth. Lawmakers are the only people who can hold these massive corporations accountable for their greed and to force them to be fair, transparent, and uphold the promise of our nation. Please consider legislation that makes mental healthcare more accessible AND regulates insurance companies requiring them to provide fair and reasonable reimbursement rates and no longer allows them to insist that those rates be kept secret.