Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Behavioral Health Advocate Funding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Mental health advocates oppose proposed cuts that would consolidate Office of Behavioral Health Advocate funding
Summary
Thomas Burr, public policy manager for NAMI Connecticut, told the Appropriations subcommittee the governor's proposed budget would consolidate funding for the Office of the Behavioral Health Advocate into the Office of the Healthcare Advocate and sharply reduce funding.
Thomas Burr, public policy manager for NAMI Connecticut, testified Feb. 14 that the governor's proposed budget would consolidate funding for the Office of the Behavioral Health Advocate into the Office of the Healthcare Advocate and reduce the office's funding sharply. Burr said the change would cut the office's funding from $876,000 to $258,000 as presented in the reallocation language in the proposal and would undermine the office's ability to monitor parity and hold insurers accountable.
Burr said the Office of the Behavioral Health Advocate was created during the 2023 legislative session and that advocates were "very excited when the Office of the Behavioral Health Advocate was created" but were "dismayed" to see the consolidation proposal. "We decry the delays in the creation of this position and request that this position be filled as written in Public Act enacted in 2023," Burr said.
Christian Damiana (listed in the transcript as Christian Damiana), public policy manager at Mental Health Connecticut, told the committee the governor's proposal "cuts the office's funding by more than 70%" and would eliminate "three critical staff positions," leaving the advocate without an attorney and patient care navigator the enabling statute contemplated. "Behavioral health parity is a legal and moral imperative and a fully funded office of the behavioral health advocate wherever it is eventually housed is critical for achieving that goal," Damiana said.
Kathy Flaherty, executive director of Connecticut Legal Rights Project and a member of the Keep the Promise Coalition, echoed the concerns and urged the committee to restore funding so the office is staffed as originally envisioned. Witnesses warned that insurers continue to show signs of parity noncompliance and that the proposed reduction would leave consumers with fewer tools for enforcement.
Witnesses asked the subcommittee to restore the behavioral health advocate position and the funding levels called for in the statute passed in 2023. No formal committee action occurred at the hearing itself.
