Nearly 150 county officials sign onto NACo’s behavioral health advocacy letter to Congress
Author
Blaire Bryant
Upcoming Events
Related News
Key Takeaways
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
Resource
Behavioral Health Matters to Counties
Related News
U.S. House reintroduces legislation to address the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy with NACo support
Two bipartisan bills aimed at addressing the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy (MIEP) were recently reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.
U.S. House of Representatives re-establishes Bipartisan Mental Health Caucus with NACo support
On May 7, members of the U.S. House of Representatives appointed new leadership to the Bipartisan Mental Health Caucus, reaffirming their commitment to addressing the nation’s mental health crisis through cross-party collaboration. This renewed focus is a welcome development for counties, which serve on the frontlines of the behavioral health system. Bipartisan initiatives like this help elevate mental health as a national priority, support counties in advancing meaningful policy change and strengthen partnerships across all levels of government.
House passes SUPPORT Act reauthorization
On June 4, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025 (H.R. 2483) by a strong bipartisan vote of 366–57. The bill, which reauthorizes billions of dollars for critical programs that target overdose prevention, now heads to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, where a version of the bill was overwhelmingly advanced with bipartisan support in the 118th Congress.