Protect Medicaid. Protect Mental Health

Medicaid is a public health insurance program that covers over 72 million people, including many people with mental health conditions, as well as pregnant women, children, people with disabilities, working families, and veterans. Forty percent of non-elderly adults on Medicaid have a mental health (MH) condition or substance use disorder (SUD).

To protect mental health, we need to protect Medicaid. Learn more mental health and Medicaid facts here.

Medicaid pays for vital services that people with mental health conditions rely on such as medications, case management, therapy, peer supports, and crisis care.

Where NAMI Stands on Medicaid

Cutting Medicaid funding or benefits would disproportionately harm people with mental health and substance use conditions.

• NAMI opposes efforts to take Medicaid coverage away from people who don’t meet a work reporting requirement. Learn more.
• NAMI opposes block grants or per-capita caps in Medicaid, which impose financing limits that jeopardize coverage and services for individuals with mental health conditions. Learn more.
• NAMI supports Medicaid expansion to expand access to coverage, with nearly 1 in 3 people covered by expansion having a MH/SUD. NAMI opposes changes to expansion or the federal matching rate that would reduce access to care. Learn more.

How Does Medicaid Impact Mental Health?

Additional Resources

• NAMI-led coalition letter to Congress on protecting Medicaid for people with mental health conditions and substance use disorders
• Mental Health Liaison Group statement: House Budget Resolution Would Put Access to Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Services at Risk for Millions of Americans
• Partnership to Protect Coverage statement: National Patient Organizations United in Opposition to House Budget Resolution that Threatens Medicaid Coverage for Millions
• Press Release: NAMI Statement on House Budget Resolution Putting Mental Health Care at Risk for Millions