Funding for South Carolina Mental Health Program Could Be Jeopardized by Budget Problems

Proposed mid-year budget cuts in South Carolina could "devastat[e]" a new program designed to discourage people with mental illness from using expensive emergency room care, the AP/Savannah Morning News reports. Crisis stabilization programs, through which patients can receive medication, treatment and counseling for one to three days, and other mental health services of the South Carolina Mental Health Department stand to lose around $8 million as the state tries to rectify an estimated $331 million tax and revenue shortfall in its $5.4 billion budget for this fiscal year. "A lot of people don't need hospitalization -- they simply need stabilization," Dave Almeida, executive director of the South Carolina chapter of the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill, said. He added, "That's even more critical now because emergency rooms are backing up increasingly with people suffering from mental illness." The mental health department lost $50 million in state and federal funds over the last two years, the AP/Morning News reports. Fred Carpenter, a member of the state Mental Health Commission, said the group intends to lobby state legislators to exempt the mental health agency from the cuts or ask the State Budget and Control Board to let the agency operate with a deficit. The board will meet Sept. 24 to decide how to handle the cuts, according to board spokesperson Michael Sponhour. Should the entire amount be cut, the board will use around $100 million from the state's reserve fund and then institute "mandatory across-the-board cuts" averaging 4.6%, Sponhour said (AP/Savannah Mourning News, 9/16).