Florida Mental Health Advocates Launch Ad Campaign Against Medicaid Formulary Proposal

The Florida chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) and advocacy group Partners in Crisis are sponsoring a television ad campaign against Gov. Jeb Bush's (R) budget proposal to create a limited formulary for Medicaid patients with mental illness or HIV/AIDS. The Miami Herald reports that Florida is facing a $1 billion budget shortfall for the fiscal year ending June 30, with prescription drug costs "partly responsible." According to state Senate analysts, the formulary would save the state $80 million. However, mental health advocates say that Bush's plan "won't include every drug every patient needs." Under the plan, doctors wishing to prescribe a drug omitted from the list must first receive permission from the state Agency for Health Care Administration. The ads, which will air in the Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville and Tallahassee markets, feature "first person testimonials" from families of people with a mental illness. Seminole County Sheriff Donald Eslinger also appears in the spot and says that Bush's plan will result in higher emergency room use and more crime. Eslinger says in the ad, "Now, Tallahassee bureaucrats want to save money by making it harder for the one in five Floridians with mental illness to get the medicines they need." The Herald reports some lawmakers already oppose Bush's proposal and that state lawmakers defeated a similar formulary measure. State Sen. Debby Sanderson (R) said, "It restricts access for the sickest of the sick" (Bousquet, Miami Herald, 4/18).