Let’s be realistic: If anything, the odds of Kentucky’s regional mental health programs securing $75 million in new state funding in the two-year budget that will be enacted by the 2010 General Assembly are probably worse than they were two years ago when the Kentucky Association of Regional Mental Health Programs first made the request.
After all, despite the 2008 General Assembly doubling the state tax on cigarettes and hiking the tax on retail alcohol sales, Kentucky’s revenue picture is as dire today — if not more dire — than it was two years ago. And in 2008, legislators never seriously considered adding $75 million in funding for mental health programs. The 14 regional programs like Pathways should expect a similar response when legislators gather in Frankfort in January to begin work on the next two-year budget.
However, just because the mental health centers have been unsuccessful in convincing legislators to approve such a hefty increase in funding does not mean the three years of meetings mental health professionals have had with legislators across the state have been a waste of time.
Just the opposite, in fact. While not getting $75 million in new funding, mental health programs have been spared the worst of the funding cuts imposed by Frankfort during the last two years. The regional meetings with legislators — one of which was hosted Monday by Pathways Inc. and Comprehend Inc. in Grayson — have helped lawmakers better understand the importance of mental health and how effective mental health treatment programs are a wise investment that, in the long run, can actually save the state money.
How? Well, one of the fastest growing expenses in state government is for jails and prisons. More and more, legislators are beginning to understand that offering treatment instead of punishment for drug addicts is more cost effective than building more jails to house them.
Regional mental health centers like Pathways and Comprehend provide some of the most effective drug and alcohol treatment programs, and with drug abuse the number one cause of crime in Kentucky, it makes sense to treat addicts rather than to throw them in jail. That’s why it’s encouraging to hear legislators like newly elected State Sen. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, say she wants to put more money in treatment programs and less money in “bricks and mortar.”
She’s not alone. Senate Majority Leader Dan Kelley, R-Springfield, sponsored one of the most progressive bills in the 2009 General Assembly, one that gives first-time drug offenders the opportunity to choose treatment over punishment, and if they are successful in conquering their addictions, they can have the criminal charges against them dropped.
However, treatment programs require more funding. Mental health centers cannot provide additional drug treatment programs if they don’t have the personnel to adequately staff existing programs. Surely, as residents of a region that has been devastated by an epidemic of prescription drug abuse, readers of this newspaper — and area legislators — can understand that the smartest way to conquer this epidemic is through the effective treatment of those addicted to prescription drugs. Throw the criminals in jail who are getting rich feeding the drug habits of area addicts, but offer the addicts help instead of jail.
Steve Shannon, executive director of the association that oversees the regional mental health programs, makes a convincing case for more funding. After all, in the last five years, the number of services provided by mental health programs has climbed by 28 percent while funding has been increased by only 9 percent. Just as important, Medicaid funding has been frozen since 2001. That’s shameful. How many of us could maintain our current lifestyles on what we earned nine years ago?
Shannon predicted the consequences without additional funding for mental health programs: More mentally ill people will be in jails or in homeless shelters instead of getting help from mental health professionals; mentally handicapped youths who have completed school will have more trouble getting the help from mental health centers programs they need to function as adults; and there will be longer times between appointments for mental health patients in need of help. In short, without more funding, the problems caused by the neglect of the mentally ill and of drug addicts will only get worse and the costs of those problems on society will continue to rise.
State Sen. Walter “Doc” Blevins, D-Sandy Hook, realizes that. He said he has been a leading advocate for mental health programs throughout his 27 years in the General Assembly. However, with state government needing another $1 billion just to maintain existing programs, the likelihood of getting the type of new funding like the mental health programs are requesting is somewhere between slim and none.
We agree with Blevins that Kentucky needs to completely revamp and modernize its tax system, but legislators have been discussing that for at least 20 years with little or nothing being done. As long as Kentucky’s voters consider “tax reform” just another name for tax increases, that’s not going to change.
Mental health centers like Pathways should continue making their case for more state funding. That way when funds do become available, they won’t be forgotten. After all, there is a lot of truth in the old adage about the squeaky wheel getting the grease.
