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821-973-WZBG. We’re still coming to grips with what might happen with federal funding with health care programs and how they affect those of us in Connecticut. Joining us this morning is President and CEO of McCall Behavioral Health Network, Maria Coutant Skinner. Maria, thanks so much for your time this morning.
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A pleasure. Thanks for having me, Dale.
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You know, we’re still trying to understand what this might mean. And I guess when we talk about cuts to mental health services, the big umbrella here really is Medicaid, right?
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Yeah. I think the big headline recently was the federal cuts that impacted public health and some of the grants that were made possible through ARPA funding, the American Rescue Plan, and so there were some important special projects that were funded that impacted mental health, public health, and those were supposed to go through September 30th, but were stopped abruptly in March. So we did see some impact on the local and statewide level because of the pause in that fight, or I should say the end of those dollars.
0:01:24
And I think what that brings to mind is those early cuts sort of are a foreshadowing of what’s to come. And so you know all of the community mental health providers and health care providers are looking, watching, and waiting for state and federal decisions that are going to impact health care broadly over the coming weeks and months.
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I think a lot of us when we when we think about Medicaid, Medicare, we tend to think of older folks and those who are getting support in facilities and health care in older age, but it’s a lot broader than that when we look at the entire pot of funding, right, and all of this is at risk.
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That’s absolutely true. So I think to start with your comment about how broad it is, I think, you know, you and I were talking for a couple of minutes before the interview started and we were thinking about how, you know, all of this impacts all of us. So if you think about kind of cuts to scientists and doctors that track and watch tick-borne illnesses or measles, that impacts all of us and it impacts healthcare and it impacts children in schools and hospital emergency departments.
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So we think about how interconnected we are. We saw that during COVID and it impacts people’s mental health. It impacts parents’ ability to show up and care for their families, grandparents to their grandchildren, and it is very broad.
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So really taking care of the overall public health is critically important. To the point of Medicare and Medicaid, so community mental health nonprofits kind of think we have our grants that some of which were cut when we were just talking about that a minute ago, and there’s lots of grants that fund programs specifically for special populations.
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There’s also a fee for service. So any time you go to your doctor or your therapist or anybody and you get a bill and your insurance pays for it, Medicaid and Medicare work in that same way, but for special populations. And so organizations, nonprofits and hospitals that take care of patients who have Medicaid or Medicare as their insurance are very reliant both on state and federal rates that reimburse for those services.
0:03:54
It’s a part of the pie. Exactly. So when you take away that part of the pie, you have to figure out how to provide the care with less or to make it up somehow.
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And I don’t think we know how we do that or even if it’s possible. It’s such a huge question and it’s so complex and I think we’re all trying to read as much as we can to get our heads around it. Right. One of the things that’s in front of the Connecticut legislature right now is a proposal to raise Medicaid rates. This is specific to Connecticut because even though that’s braided funding, states get to implement their Medicaid programs specific to their state needs. So there was a recent study and that was released.
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It was two phases and the second phase which completed it was just released and what it showed was that rates of reimbursement in Connecticut have not kept pace with all of our peer states and they actually for primary care and behavioral health have not increased since 2007. So the proposal is and it’s actually not terribly expensive to bring us up to where we need to be. Now this is important for a few reasons. Number one is if places that serve people on Medicaid can’t stay open because they can’t keep the lights on, that will impact access.
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And you think about the global implications if people can’t get care for their mental health, for addiction, for their primary care needs. This is critical.
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It is foundational to our community’s well-being. And if we can’t hire physicians and therapists to deliver that care, now the wait time that you already might have is going to extend or just be non-existent and people end up in the emergency departments, and we know what happens there. Those are also much more expensive levels of care. So if now we go to these cuts on the federal level, this isn’t saving money. This is the whole thing.
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Of course, we could talk about humanity and compassion, but if we really talk about efficiency and cost savings, this is a catastrophic decision to cut Medicaid because they serve the most vulnerable. And if you can’t get in to see your doctor and you get worse and you get sicker, you end up in more expensive levels of care. Right, preventative is always cheaper than trying to treat after long after some kind of illness has really taken root. So it’s an investment in your future good health.
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This is it. That’s so logical.
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What our takeaway here, because we’ve got a couple of minutes left to share. If you’re just joining us this morning, we’re joined by President CEO of McCall Behavioral Health Network, Maria Coutant Skinner.
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We’re talking about cuts to health services and what that may might mean in the state of Connecticut and indeed here in our hometowns. For the average folks out there who are trying to get their head around this, is there a simple statement or encapsulation thought that we can leave them with about how they might speak out to their lawmakers to make sure that we keep the health care that we so clearly need.
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Yes, health care, we can always improve on. I don’t think anybody is saying that it’s perfect. But we need to get better, not worse. And this is that statement. This is an emergency. I am not being hyperbolic.
0:07:21
It’s an emergency. And the problem impacts every single one of us and so the solution belongs to every single one of us and that means we have an opportunity in Connecticut to immediately right now there are bills in session being debated talk to your email or call your local legislators and let them know that you’re worried about this and you want to make sure that health care is well financed, particularly community, non-profit, mental health.
0:07:56
Those rates are so low that they are at risk of closing. And your federal lawmakers, please make sure that they know that it is critically important to protect Medicaid because the result, if we don’t, will be catastrophic.
0:08:11
It is so much to try to make sense of this. I thank you for walking us through it a little bit and hopefully giving people a little bit of clarity that the urgency of this to speak out and be heard to make sure that our health is protected and invested in for the better health of all of us.
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Maria, thank you for your time. Thank you so much. Maria Coutant Skinner our guest thank you for your time. Thank you so much. Maria Coutant Skinner our guest this time here on 97.3 WZBG back to Jeff in the newsroom next.