NAMI-CT BUDGET ALERT!
We need to continue our advocacy for increasing the Medicaid
Income Limit for the "Aged, Blind, and Disabled"!
The
Appropriations Committee removed the funding to raise the income
limit for Medicaid that was recommended in the subcommittee
report!
The state must not abandon its poorest and sickest citizens most
in need of adequate health care coverage!
Please call your legislator and ask them to urge their
leadership and the Chairs of the Appropriations Committee
to support such an increase!
To find out who your local legislators are visit
www.votesmart.org or contact us at NAMI-CT at 800-215-3021!
The Appropriations Committee budget
did not include any new funding for permanent supportive
housing!
Please contact your State
Representative and State Senator now, and tell them that
without NEW state funding for permanent supportive housing,
it will be extremely difficult to help people who are living on
the streets and in shelters to find homes.
Please ask them to share
this message with their colleagues in leadership positions.
The total amount of funds needed in the budget to create 650
units of permanent supportive housing, which would serve 210
families and 440 single adults, is $17.1 million.
What else was not included?
No funding to
bring young adults service programs statewide -
There is a
desperate need for the expansion of Young Adults Service (YAS)
Programs statewide to reach the remaining areas with no existing
services!
No funding for the increased clinical mental health and housing
services for the new supervised diversionary program for people
with psychiatric disabilities!
In addition, the Appropriations Committee Budget only calls for
a 1% cost-of-living increase for nonprofit providers for SFY09,
effective July 1, 2008.
This is more than the Governor's budget, which included no new
increase for nonprofit providers, but it is still woefully
inadequate to address the years of chronic underfunding of our
nonprofits.
What was
included?
The
Appropriations Committee Budget includes all the of Governor's
Budget Recommendations Related to the Department of Mental
Health and Addiction Services, including:
$4.6 million to DSS
and DMHAS to transition an additional 230 individuals with
psychiatric disabilities from nursing homes to community-based
settings
$1.3 million for
development of an on-line screening system to assess whether
individuals with psychiatric or developmental disabilities
require nursing home care, with the goal of diverting up to 300
individuals who could otherwise be served in the community - an
enhancement of the current MI/MR screening process
Additional money for the
Connecticut Offender Re-entry Program and other services for
persons with behavioral health needs who are coming out of
prison
Funding for an Emergency Room
Assessment Pilot/Crisis Response Center for diverting persons
with behavioral health needs away from emergency rooms
Funding for three 15-bed
residential programs for persons with co-occurring mental health
and substance use disorders
Funding to purchase eight beds for
persons with psychiatric disabilities who need to be moved out
of emergency rooms
Funding for ten medium security
step-down beds at Connecticut Valley Hospital
The Appropriations budget
also includes additional money for the Department of Children
and Families (DCF) not in the Governor's budget to establish a
Pilot Program for Transitioning Youth that will be annualized at
$1 million!
It also includes additional money
beyond the Governor's budget to enhance community support
services through $800,000 for three community initiatives
Please note: the
funding may appear different for some of the above items due to
changes in the implementation date.
Additional Related Budget
Items:
The Appropriations
Committee budget agrees with the Governor's budget to hire 5
additional inspections staff at DPH and five additional
financial monitoring staff at DSS for oversight of nursing homes
It also agrees with
the Governor's recommendation to allow use of special needs
trusts under the Aid to Aged, Blind and Disabled Program to
reduce the countable income of certain individuals who live in
residential care homes
It does not agree
with the Governor's proposal to permit DSS to use a more
restrictive definition of the term "medical necessity", which is
great news for preventing more restrictions on access to care!
It does not agree with the Governor's recommendation to
eliminate Medicaid funding for foreign language
interpreters, which is very important funding for improving
access to care!
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