Join APAPAC and Advocate for Your Practice and Your Patients!!!
by John J. Wernert, III, M.D. Chair, APAPAC Board of Directors

Members of the American Psychiatric Association can now contribute to the only political action committee exclusively dedicated to supporting federal candidates who will advocate for psychiatrists and their patients. The American Psychiatric Association Political Action Committee (APAPAC) provides the association with a direct opportunity to support the election of federal candidates who will advocate for psychiatry's interest in Congress. Your participation in APAPAC is an absolutely critical component of our overall legislative goals.

2002 -- Our inaugural year as an in-house PAC -- was a great success. Together, we raised over $156,000 to support U.S. Senate and House candidates who will stand up for psychiatry's legislative priorities in the 108th Congress. Some 80 percent of candidates supported by APAPAC were elected to the new Congress.

APAPAC is a vital piece of our presence on the national political scene. Last year, we made unprecedented progress on behalf of psychiatrists and their patients. For example:

• President Bush, two-thirds of the entire U.S. Senate and a clear majority of the House of Representatives sponsored APA-supported legislation to end insur- ance discrimination against psychiatric patients;

• APA-sponsored legislation was introduced in the Senate and House to end Medicare's historic dis- criminatory 50 percent copayment requirement for outpatient mental illness treatment;

• The Federal government released rules to ensure that MediGap insurers were finally compelled to pay the full 50 percent copayment for enrolled beneficiaries; and

• A bipartisan majority in the House and Senate finished the work of doubling the U.S. research budget, including the research budget for mental health.

This is an impressive track record for any PAC, let alone APAPAC's first-year, and we can be justifiably proud. However, psychiatry continues to face a crucial time that will determine what protections are in place from abusive managed care practices for patients and the profession, any expansion of prescribing privileges to non-physicians, the future of mental health parity, and reimbursement funding for psychiatrists.

Effective political action is not just an election-year phenomenon. It requires a constant year-in, year-out, every day presence on Capitol Hill and at home in your district. We cannot just compare ourselves to other medical specialty groups. Psychiatry has unique legislative issues and we need more than 10% of the membership to contribute to the PAC, simply put: we need the support of all APA members.

Your generous PAC contribution goes a long way. APAPAC squeezes the most out of every dollar by hosting Washington, D.C. events for Members of Congress who support APA's legislative goals, bringing together APA's national and local leaders to meet with APA-supported candidates, and having psychiatrists meet their Senators and Representatives back in the home state or district to personally deliver APAPAC support; strengthening the crucial local relationship. Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA), a psychiatrist, notes that "As a psychiatric physician, voicing your opinion on policies before the Congress and engaging in debate can make a significant difference in the direction of health care policy, and in particular, mental health policy."

You can now get information on and contribute to APAPAC online! Go to the APA's web site (www.psych.org), click on the "Join APAPAC!" link in the "Members Corner". For more information, contact Jason Pray at (703) 907-8581 or jpray@psych.org.

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