According
to NMHA’s State Mental Health Assessment Project, Can’t
Make the Grade, at least 29 states have cut funding for mental health
services as they have struggled to address major budget shortfalls
and skyrocketing healthcare costs. States are facing nearly $80 billion
in budget shortfalls in 2004 with no relief in sight. To address these
shortfalls, states have reduced Medicaid eligibility, limited Medicaid
services, reduced access to medications, and cut funding for mental
health programs. For people with mental illness, the results have been
devastating.
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Oklahoma's Mental Health Commissioner told State
lawmakers that recent budget cutbacks for community-based mental
health programs
seem to be sending clients into more expensive crisis centers.
Patients at the Tulsa Center for Behavioral Health increased 49%
between October 2002 and March of 2003. (Tulsa
World, 4/17/03).
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After further across-the-board budget cuts in Colorado,
emergency rooms have reported dramatic increases in visits from psychiatric
patients. By some estimates, programs that serve persons with mental
illness will lose $20 million in 2003 alone (Rocky Mountain News,
12/13/02; 12/16/02).
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Due to state budget problems, the Connecticut Department
of Mental Health and Addiction Services has cut 244 positions -
5.8 percent of its workforce. As part of these cuts, the department
closed
one of the lead mental health agencies in the state (MHA of Connecticut,
2003).
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On April 1, Massachusetts officials finalized rules to restrict
access to almost all brand-name antidepressants, despite the
opposition of mental health advocates (Boston Globe, 4/2/03).
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Dane
County, Wisconsin - renowned for premier mental health services
- has waiting lists of up to a year for many adult
and juvenile mental health services as a result of funding
cuts from
state and federal sources. The result has been increased
pressure on local resources -- the county has more than doubled
its contribution in the last 10 years, spending $6 million a year
in county tax dollars
(Wisconsin State, 3/16/03).
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After the implementation of a preferred
drug list in Michigan, 66 percent of hotline callers reported
delay, denial or switching
of their medications with negative consequences (MHA in
Michigan, 2003).
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In Montana, funding for the mental health agency
has now been cut over half a dozen times in the last year. The
Governor has increased co-pays for both Medicaid and SCHIP,
and has proposed
to limit physician visits for the aged and disabled to
10 per year (MHA of Montana, 2003; T.II.C.A.N.N., 4/23/03).
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More
than 36,000 unemployed adults in Massachusetts lost their Medicaid
health insurance coverage after last-minute
efforts to reverse program budget cuts failed. Those affected
who have substance
abuse or mental health problems will lose coverage
for basic care, forcing them to visit emergency rooms for treatment,
health care
advocates warned (Boston Globe, 4/23/03).
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Facing a $1.8 billion
deficit in 2003, and a $9.9 billion projected shortfall for 2004-05,
Texas agencies have
been directed to implement 12.5 percent budget cuts. As a result,
advocates predict
that 25,000 Texans with mental disorders could lose
access to state assistance and two facilities that provide
long-term care could
close (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 2/19/03).
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15,000 parents and
caretakers lost Medicaid eligibility in Nebraska in 2002, and
the state is now considering
eliminating any coverage for poor, childless 19 and 20-year-olds
(T.II.C.A.N.N.,
4/23/03).
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Although prescription drug benefits for 100,000 people
under the Oregon Health Plan were restored, mental health
services are still not available. Two suicides are being investigated
for a possible
link to the state's abrupt notification of patients
about the loss of mental health services coverage due to the
budget crisis (NY
Times, 3/6/03).
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Individuals with mental illnesses in South Carolina have been waiting for days in emergency rooms or months
in county jails for an open psychiatric hospital bed despite
the existence of 12
licensed stabilization facilities across the
state. The bed shortage has been blamed on $23 million in cuts
to the department's state
appropriations between FY 2001 and 2002 (Charlotte Observer,
3/10/03).
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Since 2000, the Spokane County, Washington has accumulated
$1 million in charges for exceeding its maximum
number of patients at Eastern State Hospital, indicating a
lack of community services
(Spokesman-Review, 2/26/03).
- Maine’s governor has proposed cutting the children’s
mental health services budget from $17.6
million to $5.4 million over the next two years. Services slated
to be eliminated include
case management, outpatient services; respite
care; recreational activities; wrap-around funds and mediation
services. The budget
proposes increases in funding for State mental
health spending under Medicaid, which gives the State $2 for
every dollar spent (Portland
Press Herald, 3/30/03).
What is the Price that Your State is Willing to Pay? This project was made
possible by the generous funding of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation in collaboration
with the Community Voices: Healthcare for the Underserved initiative (www.communityvoices.org). |
