LANSING — Michigan mental health groups are warning that changes proposed in the House Republican state budget plan could reduce access to mental healthcare.
Experts say they have concerns about long- and short-term funding for the field, in particular with support for those most in need of mental health services.
“The House budget definitely is not going in the right direction,” said Kate Dahlstrom, president of Grand Traverse’s National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Alan Bolter, associate director of the Community Mental Health Association of Michigan, says that he’s most worried about proposed reductions in Medicaid funding.
“The public mental health system, the community mental health centers across the state — their budgets are largely 90 to 95% made up of Medicaid funds,” he said.
House Republicans’ budget proposal would cut more than $3 billion from the division that administers Medicaid and behavioral health services.
Dahlstrom says that Northern Michigan is strapped for mental health resources as is.
“We really need to advocate for our region, because we are the most underserved region in the state with regard to inpatient psych beds and residential beds,” she said.
The House plan would also shift nearly $5 billion in support for health services from ongoing spending to one-time funding.
“Essentially that means year after year, it is not a certainty that those funds will be available,” Bolter said.
Some of those items include state Autism Services, Medicaid Mental Health Services and Medicaid Substance Use Disorder Services.
“That has created a lot of widespread panic across the state with the public mental health centers — really not knowing if those funds are going to be available year after year,” Bolter said.
Experts say that they’re concerned about the long-term impacts on funding, but also the closely approaching threat of a state government shutdown.
Bolter says that if a shutdown lasts for hours, as one did in 2009, or for a few days, mental health providers will likely continue offering their usual services.
“But if it goes weeks or longer, I think that’s when people can really see services being stopped until there is a a solution in place,” he said.
House Speaker Matt Hall said Wednesday that he and the Senate were “not getting anywhere” with discussions, further raising fears of a government shutdown on Oct. 1.