States, feds slash mental health funding

WASHINGTON – Since 2009, states have cut $1.8 billion from their mental health services programs.

More specifically, California cut close to $600 million – 16 percent of its overall mental health general fund budget. Kentucky cut $193.7 million, or 47 percent of its overall mental health general budget, A Alaska cut nearly $48 million, 35 percent of its overall mental health general budget.

Meanwhile, federal stimulus funds for Medicaid assistance to the states disappear this summer, meaning there will be even more state cuts to mental health services programs. And to make things worse, Congress is considering cuts to Medicaid funding of mental health services.

These statistics come from a report the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the country's largest mental health advocacy group, released earlier this month. It shows that as states have tried to rein in their budgets, many have severely cut mental health funding.

Local hospitals and emergency rooms, law enforcement agencies, homeless shelters and correctional facilities face the repercussions of these cuts as the mentally ill end up, literally, on their doorsteps.

One in 17 people in the United States lives with a serious mental illness, like major depression or bipolar disorder, the report says, and one in 10 children live with a serious mental disorder.

"Add it all up," said Michael Fitzpatrick, executive director of NAMI, "and you're looking at a dangerous situation."

"Mental health programs provide a critical service. They help prevent crime, unemployment and suicide when they treat our mentally ill before their issues grow out of control," said Congresswoman Grace Napolitano (D-California), co-chairperson of the Congressional Mental Health Caucus. "We should not have to wait for a tragedy to happen before we can finally address the problem through the judicial system, the prison system or the emergency room. That's an expensive and shortsighted way to deal with the problem. During times of budget cuts, mental health advocates have to push through the stigma surrounding mental health and make sure their true value to the budget is understood, because it's pay now or pay double, triple, 10 times later."

The report suggests investing in early detection and intervention programs and implementing mental health screening and assessment programs.

One youth services organization, Choices, Inc., with centers in Indiana, Ohio, Maryland and Washington, D.C., deals with budget constraints by using a blended funding program which coordinates care and funding from all the entities from which a child might be getting services.

"We're trying to get those (systems) together so that the child will get the best care using all the dollars available," said Knute Rotto, Choices' chief executive officer. The strategy doesn't cover every child, he said, but it maximizes efficiency and funding sources.

"In times of financial crises," said Rotto, "it's use what you have, don't complain about what you don't have, and innovate."