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Testimony
NAMI New Jersey
Phillip Lubitz
December 12 , 2005
This year New Jersey has made an unprecedented commitment to developing a comprehensive system of mental health care based on recovery and wellness for people with mental illness. The legislature has passed a new state budget which increases access to treatment by providing more than $40 million in new spending for psychiatric care, including:
§ $250 thousand for the Governor's Council on Mental Health Stigma
§ $10 million for mental health screening centers
§ $2.5 million for expanded psychiatric services (25,000 additional psychiatric hours)
§ $5 million for support services for supportive housing
§ $1.8 million for jail diversion programs in Essex, Union and Atlantic Counties
§ $ 1 million for new bi-lingual and culturally competent services
§ $1 million for Short Term Care Facilities
§ $1.5 million for special case management services (IOC)
§ $1 million for culturally competent services
§ $2.1 million for Self-Help centers
§ $1 million to expand Supported Employment
§ $800 thousand for pilot re-entry case management services
§ $600 thousand for the Community Health Law Project to expand legal services
§ $3.5 million for a college loan forgiveness program for mental health workers
A $200 million Special Needs Housing Trust Fund would help create 10,000 affordable-housing opportunities for people with mental illness in the next 10 years.
$ 12 million Cost of Providing Care increase was added over the budget Acting Governor Codey proposed in March to shore up the infrastructure of the community mental health system. (1.5% COLA)
In other actions that have a direct affect on persons with a mental illness the legislature made late changes to the budget to do away with a proposal to charge $1 and $3 dollar co-pays under Medicaid for prescriptions and clinic visits. The legislature also added $20 million dollars to create a "wrap-around" for individuals who are eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare. This will prevent a disruption in their prescription coverage when the new Medicare drug benefit takes affect in January. (26% of those who will benefit are individuals disabled as a result of a mental illness).
$2 million reduction in state revenue as a result of the repeal of the Lien Law.
Bob testified that "using actuarial tables and other states' experience , that in the first year that IOC would be available, approxiamately 100 individuals would be committed to that status".
NAMI NEW JERSEY is a statewide coalition of self-help support and advocacy groups composed of families, consumers and friends of persons with a serious mental illness. With chapters in all twenty-one counties we are New Jersey's largest grassroots organization dedicated to improving the quality of life of individuals with a serious mental illness and their families.
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