Why are social workers the only profession that can be paneled to take medicare?  Why are other licensed mental health professionals not given the right to provide services to medicare patients?  Why are certain jobs ear marked for social workers only?  Why??  DOD give SW's $550,000 to be used not for every mental health professions.  I am a licensed psychotherapist and I live in TN. Additionally I am noticing a trend in the mental health world where only social workers are acknowledged on the list of professions.  It dismisses all of the other mental health professionals like LPCs and LMFTs.  I can not understand this. We want to be able to take medicare.  If there is such a shortage of SW's.  Please add our profession to the list or just make a statement instead of others.  Others did not go to school for 4 years.  Others did not complete 3,000 hours of training,others did not complete a thesis or dissertation, others did not take 3 exams to complete our license requirements.  Others did not open a private practice to intentionally provide services for the underserved and turned no one away because of an inability to pay.  Others do not consult and collaborate with you on clinical issues. Others are not the backbone of this profession. I pay into a system and I don't get to reap the reward.    Thank you for your immediate correction of this error/