Even before the big cuts, in fiscal 2006, Ohio’s state mental health funding was less than 70 percent of the national average, according to the nonprofit Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
Budget proposals submitted to Gov. John Kasich by state departments would subject the public mental health system to further cuts of about $3.3 million in fiscal 2012-2013, according to proposals obtained by the Dayton Daily News.
“The mental health system in Ohio has collapsed, and this doesn’t make it any better,” said Terry Russell, Ohio executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the advocacy group that issued the report.
While the proposals are subject to change before Kasich unveils his biennial state budget March 15, Kasich has said he wouldn’t make the huge cuts to mental health.
His predecessor, Ted Strickland, slashed mental health spending by 30 percent for fiscal 2011.
Russell said the history of state cuts means officials need to focus on serving only “the sickest of the sick, the ones the state has a constitutional requirement to serve.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2264 or tbeyerlein@DaytonDaily News.com.
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