House Budget Reconciliation Proposals Will Be Devastating for Medicaid, People with Mental Illness

, /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) released a statement expressing alarm following the newly released congressional proposal to significantly cut Medicaid, which would cause significant harm to people with mental illness and our nation's mental health infrastructure. The proposal would cause millions of people to lose their health care coverage, including 8.6 million people from Medicaid alone. NAMI CEO Daniel H. Gillison, Jr. said:

"Medicaid is a lifeline to tens of millions of Americans who rely on this coverage to access mental health services. When people lose access to health care coverage, lives are at risk. We've come too far and made too much progress in addressing mental health care in this country to throw that progress away. NAMI is deeply opposed to the proposed cuts and changes to Medicaid, and we urge members of Congress to reject this proposal."

Last night, the House Energy & Commerce Committee released text for their portion of a larger budget bill, cutting at least $715 billion in federal funding within their jurisdiction as part of the budget reconciliation process. Due to these cuts and changes, like the addition of work reporting requirements, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the full House reconciliation package would result in 13.7 million more people who are uninsured, with 8.6 million impacted by the Medicaid proposals alone. As the largest payer of mental health and substance use services, these cuts to Medicaid would be devastating to people affected by mental health conditions who rely on Medicaid coverage to get well and stay well.

In addition to changes to Medicaid, the House Ways & Means Committee is also looking at additional policies that would impact tax credits that help people afford coverage on the health insurance marketplace. These changes would result in an additional five million people who will become uninsured – on top of the 8.6 million impacted by the Energy & Commerce proposal.

Gillison continued:

"Unfortunately, nothing in these proposals would help address the mental health crisis facing our country. But we know that access to Medicaid – and health care coverage in general – allows people to get well and go back to work or school, to take care of their families, and to engage in the community in a meaningful way. These proposals are alarming and will hurt too many Americans. Congress must swiftly reject these changes and keep Americans connected to the mental health care they need and deserve."

NAMI's grassroots advocates have sent more than 107,000 letters to Capitol Hill this year calling on Congress to reject any cuts or drastic changes to Medicaid as part of NAMI's "Protect Medicaid. Protect Mental Health." campaign. Visit nami.org/medicaid to learn more.

SOURCE National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)