MichiganRadio

Mental Health Care Cuts Could Have Long-Term Effects ANN ARBOR, MI (Michigan Radio) - Advocates for Michigan's mentally ill say 40 million dollars in proposed cuts will cost the state more money in the long run.

Mark Reinstein is the president of Mental Health Association of Michigan.

He says about 180 thousand Michiganders depend on the state for treatment and medication of mental disorders.

Reinstein says that number is rising.

"It may not affect you, but the odds are, that it's affecting someone in your family, someone that you know," Reinstein says. "It's simply the wrong thing to do morally to try to balance the budget on the back of the most vulnerable among us."

Reinstein says Michigan should use the extra Medicaid money it's getting under the federal stimulus program to fill the gaps in mental health care services. He says if it doesn't, the state will spend far more down the road.

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