In October, Jan Turner, TCA President, Mary Brignole, President-elect and Robin Lee, Licensure chair,

participated in a conference call with Scott Barstow, a representative from the Public Policy Office of the

American Counseling Association. This conversation was at the request of ACA to discuss the current

status of Medicare coverage for LPCs. ACA is in the beginning stages of organizing a grass-roots effort to

lobby congressional leaders to support Medicare coverage for LPCs in 2009. Currently, LPCs, along with

MFTs, are the only mental health professionals not covered under Medicare. With the projected future

changes in the population, more service providers will be needed for those individuals with Medicare

coverage. ACA is working with state chapters to encourage members to get involved. Information is being

provided in the 2008 TCA conference packets. Please consider contacting your elected officials to

encourage their support of this legislation. For more information, please visit

TCA has joined other states in providing members with access to Capwiz. This program provides

information about state and local legislative issues, as well as state and local officials. Capwiz provides

information about elected officials, legislation updates, and calls-to-action. Prior to TCA’s participation,

Capwiz only provided information about federal issues.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please contact me at 615.898.2577 or by email at

Respectfully submitted,

Dr. Robin Lee, LPC,

Licensure Committee Chair