HHS Secretary Becerra’s statement on the President’s proposed FY 2023 budget includes key investments with substantial focus on public health preparedness, behavioral health, health disparities, child health and wellness, and advancing research.
The proposed FY 2023 HHS budget strongly stresses mental health and Substance Use Disorder (SUD) care. The budget includes mandatory investments totaling $51.7 billion over ten years to improve behavioral health.
The new Mental Health Transformation Fund provides $7.5 million to be allocated over 10 years. The goal is to expand access to mental health services through mental health workforce development and by expanding services. The plan is to development non-traditional health delivery sites and integrate quality mental health and substance use care into primary care settings.
Other investments include $4.1 billion to permanently extend funding for Community Mental Health Centers, $1.2 billion in additional outlays to strengthen consumer protections, and improve access to behavioral health services in the private insurance market.
Provides $3.5 billion to improve Medicare mental health coverage and make access more affordable by modernizing Medicare fee-for-service mental health benefits by covering three behavioral health visits per year without cost sharing and revising the criteria for psychiatric hospital terminations from Medicare. Eliminate the 190 day lifetime limit on psychiatric hospital services and apply the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act to Medicare
As for Medicaid, the budget calls for $35.4 billion to improve mental health access in Medicaid by increasing access to providers, expand Demonstration Programs to improve Community Mental Health Services, establish a performance fund to improve behavioral health, and encourage the utilization of clinically appropriate criteria for Medicaid covered behavioral health services.
The overdose epidemic has been one of the most significant public health challenges of our time, and the COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on this crisis. The FY 2023 budget addresses the overdose epidemic by investing $110 billion including $10.4 billion in discretionary funding, in programs addressing opioids and overdose related activities across HHS.
Go to https://www.hhs.gov/budget for more information on the President’s FY 2023 Budget for HHS.