The Trump administration isn’t just trying to erase the Affordable Care Act in Congress and the courts. They want to erase it from history.
On Wednesday, the White House announced the launch of FindTreatment.gov, a new website from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration that’s designed to help people choose among more than 13,000 care providers across the United States.
This resource could prove helpful to the 20 million Americans with substance use disorder. But the website is also an example of the Trump administration’s refusal to acknowledge that the Affordable Care Act exists, even though the law made significant improvements to mental health services.
FindTreatment.gov makes a point to credit the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which President George W. Bush signed into law as a small part of a larger legislative package, with increasing access to mental health and substance use treatment. That law requires large-group health insurance policies like those provided by employers to offer equal coverage of mental health services as for medical care.