Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell has proposed cutting $300 million from the state’s mental health budget. His plan would reduce mental-health treatment beds by 232, take 5 percent in funds from community service boards (which provide mental health treatment in the community) and freeze enrollment for a program that provides insurance to low-income children.
What McDonnell is doing is not much different from what other governors are doing across the country. Each day, I get a NAMI alert from some state chapter about budget cuts that will cause havoc in mental health programs.
Under-cutting mental health is nothing new. It’s one reason why the old state hospital system failed. State legislators refused to adequately fund hospitals and we all know what happened because of their miserly spending.
There’s a reason why mental health is such an easy target. A state legislator explained it to me last year when I told her that we needed more services in Virginia. “You have no clout!” she said.
Politicians react to two things: votes and money. And mental health groups don’t seem to have either.
Or do we?
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one out of every four adults will suffer from a mental illness at some point during the coming year. That is a huge voting block. We need to find a way to mobilize our forces.
One simple way is for mental health groups, such as NAMI and Mental Health America to give a yearly award to local politicians who care about our issues. Buy a trophy, have it engraved and call the local newspaper. Politicians love getting awards and having their photos in the paper.
On a national level, we need to find ways to financially support our friends and defeat our enemies. I wish that NAMI, MHA, the American Psychiatric Association, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, and other community mental health groups would join together and form a political action committee. Obviously, since many of these groups are non-profit, they would have to find a way legally to do this. But we need some sort of financial war-chest.
I know such talk makes people nervous, but if you want to see evidence of how money talks, just look at Virginia. At 30 cents per pack, we have one of the lowest, state cigarette taxes in the nation. Last year, outgoing Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine recommended doubling that tax to help ease the state’s budget crisis. Charging 60 cents per pack would generate $180 million in new revenues. But the Virginia legislature refused to even consider his proposal. If you want to know why, you might want to read an editorial that I wrote for the Washington Post about how the tobacco lobby owns the Virginia legislature. Click here.
Personally, I would rather see NAMI and other groups focus more on getting money into politicians hands than raising contributions toward research – a task that the National Institute of Mental Health should be doing.
Until we either find a way to mobilize votes or contribute to campaigns we are always going to be the first to suffer budget cuts in important services.
So what is stopping us?
About the author:
About the author: Pete Earley is the bestselling author of such books as The Hot House and Crazy. When he is not spending time with his family, he tours the globe advocating for mental health reform.
