DeSantis proposes more mental health spending in Florida

While campaigning for governor, Ron DeSantis promised he would advocate for more access to mental health and substance abuse treatment.

This is one of 15 campaign promises by the Republican governor we are tracking on our DeSant-O-Meter as part of our effort to hold politicians accountable for their promises.

DeSantis tried to get started on this promise in his first budget proposal for the 2019-20 fiscal year. (The Legislature, in session until early May, will have the final say.) A DeSantis spokeswoman cited three line items in his budget proposal related to his promise:

•$84.6 million to address the opioid epidemic (which includes $49 million in federal funding),

•$10 million for mental health care in Florida schools,

•$25.7 million for mental health needs, especially funds to expand support for children and youth who are in crisis. That includes money both for experts who will work with families in the community and for in-patient beds.

The budget by DeSantis is a step in the right direction, but Florida has a lot of catching up to do, said Anne Swerlick, a health care policy analyst at the Florida Policy Institute.

She pointed to a report by Mental Health America that ranked Florida 44th on access to care in 2018. The national advocacy group's rankings takes into account access to treatment, insurance, special education, and workforce availability.

Florida has also lagged behind the nation on mental health spending for years.

The budget proposal by DeSantis takes into account the state's growing opioid epidemic. In 2017, there were about 6,200 opioid-related deaths, an 8 percent increase from the year before, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. (The statistic is based on medical examiner data and includes those in which opioids were the cause of death or found in the body of the decedent. That results in a higher statistic than the U.S. Centers for Disease Control's count of opioid deaths.)

Jane E. Johnson, spokeswoman for the Florida Council for Community Mental Health, said the proposed pots of money will help provide services in Florida communities. That includes the much-needed investment in schools as "students are experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety disorders, suicide attempts and addictive behaviors."

However, she said that when the federal opioid grant expires, there will be a significant gap. That's why the state needs a long-term strategy for addressing the opioid epidemic.

Health policy advocates say that the Florida Legislature has missed a key tool to provide care by forgoing Medicaid expansion as part of the Affordable Care Act.

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan expert source on health care research, found that compared to non-expansion states, Medicaid expansion states have seen greater improvements in access to medications and services for the treatment of behavioral and mental health conditions. That included studies showing Medicaid expansion is associated with increased prescriptions to treat opioid use disorder and opioid overdose.

DeSantis used broad language for this promise and didn't provide any metrics to measure it on the campaign trail. However, his budget proposal is a first step. We rate this promise In the Works.