General Discussion

Franken's accomplishments in the Senate:

The Affordable Care Act's "Medical Loss Ratio" (MLR): Franken successfully added a provision to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requiring health insurance companies to spend at least 80-85% of premium dollars on actual health care and quality improvement, rather than administrative or marketing costs. If insurers exceed the limit, they must issue refunds to customers.

The Franken Amendment: A prominent anti-contractual provision enacted in the 2010 defense budget preventing the Defense Department from doing business with major defense contractors that forced employees to sign mandatory arbitration agreements for sexual assault, discrimination, or harassment claims.

Mental Health in Schools: He championed and helped pass the Mental Health in Schools Act, which directed federal grant funding toward training school staff and establishing comprehensive mental health services for at-risk youth.The Comprehensive Justice and

Mental Health Act: He sponsored this, signed into law in 2016, which provided funding and resources for law enforcement and mental health courts to better assist individuals with mental illnesses in the criminal justice system.

Veterans and Service Animals: He spearheaded provisions in the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act to pilot and expand service dog therapy programs for veterans suffering from PTSD and other severe mental health conditions.

Financial Oversight: He secured a provision in the 2010 [Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act](britannica.com Act) to crack down on the conflict of interest where financial institutions actively shopped around to get preferential credit ratings from agencies.



That ain't a hill of beans.