Stabenow at a Senate Budget Committee hearing in June 2021. Photo: Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images
Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s retirement will end the career of a senator who’s known for taking up unflashy but critical health care issues like mental health policy and funding reauthorizations.
Why it matters: Her departure means the Senate will lose one of its most effective mental health champions.
The big picture: Stabenow, who chairs the Senate Finance health subcommittee, is an ardent mental health advocate and led many of the mental health provisions passed last month in the omnibus package.
- They included legislation to increase the mental health care workforce and to get Medicare coverage for mental health counselors and therapists.
- She also spearheaded the 2014 Excellence in Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Act, which created a new Medicaid reimbursement model for Community Behavioral Health Clinics.
- “No person struggling with mental health issues or addiction should ever go without the treatment they need because grant funding runs out. Health care is health care — whether it is above the neck or below the neck,” Stabenow said last March.
Throughout her tenure, the four-term Michigan Democrat has also secured 10 years of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, pushed Medicare and TRICARE to better cover Alzheimer’s care, and co-authored legislation to extend community health centers’ funding.
- Ten new community centers have opened in Detroit since Stabenow took office, according to the Detroit Free Press.
What’s next: Stabenow still has another two years in office, so we expect to hear more from her on health care before she leaves D.C.
- We’ll also be on the lookout for who might emerge as Senate Democrats’ next mental health and health care funding leaders.
