Idaho Mental Health Cuts In Top 10

StateImpact Idaho is beginning to look at the effects of the $34 million Medicaid cut that the Idaho Legislature passed last session.  Related to that, a new report from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) tallies the state-by-state changes in general fund appropriations for state mental health agencies since 2009.  According to the report, Idaho is among the ten states that have made the greatest cuts, by percentage, since that year. As advocates for people with mental illness will point out, Idaho hasn’t had a great track record of funding services for the state’s mentally ill. “I think the shocking part is we spend $44 per capita on mental health, and the national average is $122. So we’re about a third of the national average,” said Doug McKnight, president of the Idaho chapter of NAMI/ Molly Messick , State Impact. More here.

Question: Do you suppose underfunding mental health services is one of the way’s the Otter administration provides good governance?