Illinois Behavioral Health Treatment Services Are At Risk - Contact
Your Legislators Now!
Governor
Rauner’s Proposed Budget Will Destroy Illinois’ Mental Health Safety Net
What
is at stake?
Governor Rauner’s budget proposes cuts of
over $87M to mental health treatment services, eliminating:
- many important psychiatric services for
people living with serious mental illnesses
- programs that divert people from
expensive institutionalizations like jails, nursing homes, and emergency rooms
- many critical services for young adults in the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS)
The budget also proposes cuts of over $34M to
addiction treatment services, including:
- a 10% reduction to heroin addiction
treatment services, in the face of an Illinois heroin crisis
- a 20% reduction to services for DCFS
kids
- a 20% reduction to global treatment
services
What
will this mean?
We know from Illinois Hospital Association
data that when $113M was cut from mental health and substance use treatment
services between fiscal years 2009-2011, psychiatric hospitalizations soared, rising by 19%
in the same period.
Those extra hospitalizations and institutionalizations alone cost the state $131M, which is $18M more than the cuts themselves. Taxpayers
lost money on the deal, and persons with mental illnesses and substance use
disorders lost their jobs, their homes, their health, and oftentimes their
lives.
What
is the solution?
The General Assembly must find a revenue
solution to balance the budget.
Governor Rauner is calling for “shared sacrifice” in Illinois – but those with
the least have already sacrificed too much. We cannot allow the mental health
and substance use disorder safety nets to be decimated in Illinois. A crippled
network of care for our most vulnerable citizens will not help the fiscal
health of our state, and it will not make it an attractive place to live and
work.
You
can help! Tell your state legislators they MUST find a revenue solution.
Email your state representatives and state senators today!
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