Mental
Health Association in New York State, Inc. |
Friday Fax from Albany
SPECIAL TIMOTHY’S LAW BUDGET EDITIONShow Me The Money!!!! Assemblyman Paul Tonko and MHANYS think they have finally identified a way to do just that. Working together, Assemblyman Tonko’s office and MHANYS staff has been attempting to determine whether or not state budget savings might accrue if Timothy’s Law were to pass, Mr. Tonko is today circulating to his colleagues a sign-on letter to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, outlining that goal. Now, Assemblyman Paul Tonko, the lead sponsor of Timothy’s Law, has begun an effort to secure passage of his bill as part of the 2004-05 state budget. Late last week, MHANYS sent a letter to legislative leaders and the Governor, asking them to fully identify potential state and local Medicaid and Social Services savings for children and adults, if insurance policies had to cover mental health and chemical dependency needs without discrimination. Earlier this week, MHANYS held a press conference to reveal this information to the public. According to information gathered by Mr. Tonko from the Office of Mental Health and the NYS Department of Health, New York’s Home and Community-Based Services waiver program cost $14 million in 2002. While all of us who are familiar with the Home and Community Based Waiver system know that many of the expenses provided under this program are not insurance reimbursable, the information Assemblyman Tonko received clearly states that approximately $11.5 million of this is related to individual care coordination, which largely amounts to the general provision of services. Just ask any of the families who have been forced into the HCBW program as a last ditch effort to avoid relinquishment. Both MHANYS and Assemblyman Tonko feel that this money would be much better spent providing more services such as respite care, family support, skill building and crisis response instead of subsidizing the health insurance industry. We would like to stress, MHANYS recognizes that not all HCBW service needs will be eliminated by passage of Timothy’s Law, and thus continues to call for continued full funding and expansion of the program. HCBW waivers represent just a fraction of the overall expenses incurred due to the failure to pass Timothy’s Law. MHANYS work with legal organizations such as the Office of Court Administration (OCA) indicates that the cost of custody relinquishment in New York State may exceed $200 million, with only a small portion of those costs coming from insurance reimbursable mental health services. The vast majority of the costs are associated with the removal of a child from their home. This savings was arrived at by examining the information from OCA, available in their 2002 Annual Report, and determining that there were over 3,500 “Surrender of Child” petitions filed in that year. To ensure that we were using the most conservative estimates possible, since we recognized that we did not have exact numbers, we estimated that half of these “Surrender of Child” petitions were for the purpose of obtaining mental health care. MHANYS went on to identify the cost of an out-of-state placement to be $125,000, half the General Accounting Office’s estimate of $250,000 in their report on the costs associated with custody relinquishment. We should say that we used this number because we could not locate the cost of an in-state placement. Using this number, we arrived at a total savings of $218,750,000. Of this amount, $32,500,000 would be Medicaid savings, and over $185,000,000 could be claimed as social services savings. Again, these figures do not include HCBW savings, since we are not claiming that as a savings, but instead as a better use of already existing funds. The total Medicaid subsidy for the insurance industry, if both are included, is $43,000,000. There is one other important aspect of these figures to note. They only include the cost savings to the state for children. Since we all know that children are not magically “cured” when they turn 18, we know that there is a significant savings to be realized through the provision of services to adults as well. Unfortunately, these savings are not as easily isolated, as they exist in more intangible areas, such as the criminal justice system, the homeless problem, and unemployment. The treatment of mental health has traditionally been viewed as a burden, both by the state and by insurers. It is our hope that by working with government officials in this way, we can begin to shift that perception, and show how proper treatment saves money for everyone - the state, businesses, and taxpayers.
Until
next time, we remain, |