The National Association of Counties (NACo) led a bipartisan group of nearly 150 county elected officials in calling on Congress to pass key county priorities in an end-of-year behavioral and mental health legislative package.

In a letter to U.S. Senate and House leadership, the county officials pointed to five policies that would significantly improve local behavioral health services:

• Amend the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy (MIEP)
• Repeal the Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion
• Fund direct and flexible grant programs to counties to support the recruitment, training and retention of a sufficient behavioral health workforce
• Sustain federal funding to support local crisis response infrastructure through Medicaid
• Enforce policies that ensure equal coverage of treatment for mental illness and addiction

Counties are integral to the nation’s behavioral health system, both funding and coordinating behavioral health services, including those provided in county-owned and operated community health facilities. Additionally, counties help finance and administer Medicaid services, the largest source of funding for behavioral health services in the United States. By directing resources to community-based treatment and services, we can better serve our residents with behavioral health conditions, reduce reliance on the criminal legal system and direct valuable resources towards improving stability and health.

Congress still has an opportunity to build on the success of major investments into mental health and substance use disorder over the last few years by passing additional behavioral health policies that would improve the lives of millions of Americans before the end of the year.

Click here to view the full letter and its signatories.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Behavioral Health Matters to Counties
• Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy (MIEP) Advocacy Toolkit
• NACo Policy Brief: Fund Local Crisis Response Efforts
• NACo Policy Brief: Enhance Counties' Ability to Prevent and Treat Mental Illness and Substance Abuse Disorders