Can't Make the Grade -NMHA Mental Health State Assessment Project

• All states underfund mental health services. NMHA has found that investment in mental health services is now so inadequate that even basic services are in jeopardy.

• In 2002, 29 states cut mental health funding, and 25 states have now instituted laws or regulations that limit access to needed medications. 2003 is proving to be even more challenging. These funding cuts put people’s lives at risk as essential services and programs are eliminated.
  

• NMHA’s grades provide insight into each states’ prioritization of mental health services. They are not designed to evaluate a state’s entire mental health system.

• As badly needed mental health services are cut, states will continue to pay for them in the form of emergency room visits, criminal justice costs, and inpatient care increases. In order to offset expected increases in these expensive cost areas, states must consider wise and effective use of limited state dollars.

Despite the state budget crisis, NMHA identified three crucial areas in which states can make policy choices to help people with mental illness:

1. Mental Health Parity. Most insurance policies charge higher fees and restrictions for mental health services than physical health services. NMHA’s report looks at which states have parity laws and how they address a full range of discriminatory practices.
2. Managed Care Protections. While most states have passed basic managed care protections, only 10 states have passed laws that explicitly allow patients to sue managed care companies for negligence and harm for both physical and mental injuries.
3. Access to Medications. For many people with mental health disorders, newer medications have been a crucial component of successful treatment. Over 20 states have already passed laws or regulations that limit access to medications with 20 more planning to increase these limits in 2003.

Even with the bleak fiscal outlook for 2003 and 2004, states do have opportunities to reduce discrimination against people with mental illness, and to increase access to effective treatment and services. States need to increase their investment in and attention to the complexities of mental health policy.

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).

National Mental Health Association
2000 N. Beauregard Street, 6th Floor
Alexandria, VA 22311
Phone 703/684-7722
Fax 703/684-5968
Mental Health Resource Center 800/969-NMHA
TTY Line 800/433-5959