Texas Mental Health Services: Safe for Now?

AUSTIN  -  Now that we've been told that the Texas Legislature has decided not to drastically cut, if any reductions at all, funding for mental health services for the 2012 - 2013 biennium let’s look back and see what could have happened if funding was indeed significantly decreased.

A question you may have asked yourself, “In Austin alone, what would have been done to help the over 16,800 individuals, 1400 of them children, approx. 1 out of every 5 people, receiving assistance through state and local health services and the astounding number of people actually still on a waiting list to receive services? Well, let me give you some insight to your curiosity.

Texas currently ranks as one of the lowest states in the nation in spending on mental health care. If drastic reductions would have taken place, as originally proposed, the mental health services would have undermined the foundation of the public mental health system. The belief that cuts to community mental health services equate to savings would have been deceptive, as the costs of serving people with serious mental illnesses is merely shifted to local communities and to other sectors of the state budget.

Cuts to these services would have resonated through the public health, public safety and social service systems. As a result, without access to state funded community‐based treatment, untreated Texans with serious mental illness would get caught in an expensive revolving door of crisis, emergency rooms, hospitalization, and involvement in the criminal justice system and this burden will almost definitely be shifted back to the taxpayers. When compared against the cost of these settings, state funded community‐based services are clearly the more cost effective approach.

The next time the Lege kicks around the idea of cutting funding for mental health services they should first be invited to an all-expense paid, fun filled day at the Capital Area Mental Health Center, The Department of Health and Human Services or the Del Valle Correctional Center. Of course, the choice is ultimately theirs.

Written by John   Commentary for GOVT 2306 – 025   July 24, 2011