Washington Mental Health Counselors Association

Washington Mental Health Counselors Association

This is an urgent call to action!

The Washington Mental Health Counselors Association (WMHCA) needs your help.  We have been working as part of coalition of health care providers to improve health care in Washington State.

We need to get HB 1589 out of the House. 

HB 1589 requires commercial insurance carriers to negotiate and work more fairly with small providers. It requires carriers to share and negotiate fee schedules, provide clearly marked copies of contract changes as they occur, disclose the name and contact information of the primary representative the provider will work with, and demonstrate increased transparency, accessibility, and willingness to negotiate.

WMHCA needs you to write your House Representatives.  It's important that this done through the legislative website.

Once done reply back to this email and let us know who you have reached out to! 

How to show your support:

  1. Use the district finder https://app.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder to find your 2 State Representatives (we do not need to email Senators at this time).
  2. Click on your representatives name.
  3. Click on the yellow email box.
  4. Fill out step 1 and step 2 (this will flag you as a constituent, and constituent emails are prioritized over all others.)
  5. Step 3 is 1589
  6. Click SUPPORT
  7. Subject is "Please support HB 1589"
  8. Add your message-please include a personal story and make the words your own.

Sample Message

I am asking you to support HB 1589.  This bill requires private insurance carriers to negotiate and work more fairly with small providers. It requires carriers to share and negotiate fee schedules, provide clearly marked copies of contract changes as they occur, disclose the name and contact information of the primary representative the provider will work with, and demonstrate increased transparency, accessibility, and willingness to negotiate.

(Insert personal story/impact etc. here--why is this important to you?  How will this help clients? How does this improve access) 

When the bill is brought to the Floor, we are in full support of Representative Bronoske's striking amendment. I urge you to vote yes on this critical issue, which will help increase Washingtonians' access to behavioral health by encourage more providers to accept private insurance.