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Panel advances bill to prevent charges for mobile crisis services, bolster 988-linked response
Summary
House File 9‑73 would bar providers from charging individuals for mobile mental health crisis responses, remove MinnesotaCare co‑payments for crisis services, and seek ongoing funding; the committee laid the bill over after testimony from providers, counties and advocates.
Representative Nolan Backer presented House File 9‑73 to the committee, asking members to make mobile mental health crisis teams universally available without out‑of‑pocket charges and to stabilize funding. The committee moved the bill and laid it over for further work.
The bill would prohibit mobile crisis teams supported by state grants or MinnesotaCare from charging individuals for services and would make crisis services exempt from co‑payments, coinsurance and deductibles under MinnesotaCare. Backer told the panel he envisions ongoing funding and asked for $4 million per year in the draft to sustain teams and to expand protected transport options as an alternative to police or EMS transport.
Why it matters: mobile crisis teams provide a non‑law‑enforcement response to mental health emergencies. Supporters said the teams reduce law enforcement involvement, emergency room use and jail bookings and that stable base funding is needed to maintain 24/7 availability.
Sue Abercalden, Executive Director of NAAMI Minnesota, said the goal is to ensure a mental‑health response rather than a law‑enforcement response and that charging individuals creates a perverse incentive to call police. She said a FOX9 report showed Ramsey County had charged people for crisis services and later changed the policy; Abercalden testified that in at least some cases the charge was “the entire cost of the service.”
Eric Sievers, executive director of Hiawatha Valley Mental Health Center, described a large increase in demand after 988 implementation and said mobile teams in rural southeastern Minnesota saw assessments grow substantially; he urged sustained funding, noting grant and billable revenue alone do not cover operating costs.
Committee members asked about 988 promotion and coordination with 911 dispatch; witnesses said 988 call centers can connect to local responders and most crises are resolved by phone or by the crisis team without needing emergent transport.
Representative Backer moved that House File 9‑73 be laid over for possible inclusion; the motion was approved and the bill was filed for further consideration.
Key provisions discussed included: prohibition on charging individuals for crisis team response; Medicare/MinnesotaCare billing alignment and the removal of co‑payments for crisis services; directing state support for protected transport vehicles; and designating 988 as the central access number for mental health crisis response where statutory cross‑references apply.
Votes at a glance: House File 9‑73 — motion to lay over made by Representative Backer; outcome: laid over for possible inclusion.
