Pawlenty: Enhance state’s mental health treatment
02/25/2006
Glenn Howatt, Star Tribune
Last update: February 25, 2006 – 12:36 AM
Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Friday proposed redirecting $109 million in state funds to enhance mental health treatment paid for by state health insurance programs.
“We for too long have overlooked the mental health dilemma in Minnesota,” Pawlenty said.
The proposal would take $50 million from MinnesotaCare funding and redirect $59 million that currently goes to county mental health grants.
The funding proposals could meet opposition from DFLers who want to restore cuts made earlier to MinnesotaCare, and from counties, which use the grants for safety-net services.
Most agree that the state’s mental health system needs help to overcome a shortage of hospital beds, limited housing for the mentally ill and a lack of psychiatrists and therapists.
Among the proposals made Friday, the state would invest in school-based mental health services and community-based crisis intervention teams.
It would also improve mental health benefits for in-state health programs and raise payment levels to psychiatrists and therapists.
Rep. Mindy Greiling, DFL-Roseville, criticized the redirection of funds. “He’s got a good blueprint for things that need doing,” she said. “He’s robbing from one part of the mental health system to pay for another piece.”
Ramsey County adult services director May Kao Hang said the governor’s proposal, along with federal Medicaid cuts passed last month, would make it more difficult for the county. “It is great that the governor is interested in mental health issues,” she said. “But we will probably be seeing reduced services for people who are uninsured or underinsured.”
Wes Koistra, an assistant commissioner of the Department of Human Services, said that money would still flow to counties, but bureaucratic barriers to care would be eliminated. “What we lack as a state agency is clear accountability,” he said.
He said $50 million can safely be taken from the MinnesotaCare fund without cutting benefits or eligibility for that program.
If the proposal is approved by the Legislature, the program will be phased in beginning in 2008.