Deep cuts to Medicaid being pushed by U.S. House Republicans would harm La Plata County and further strain Colorado’s already lackluster mental health services, said La Plata County Commissioner Marsha Porter-Norton.
While the largest impact would be on the thousands of Coloradans who could lose health insurance, the local mental health system – including Axis Health System – would suffer as a result, Porter-Norton said.
“One-fourth of the people in La Plata County are on Medicaid, and it funds mental health and behavioral health services,” Porter-Norton said at a Writers on the Range event last week, where she was the keynote speaker.
The event focused on what Porter-Norton described as a serious mental health crisis in the county. According to a survey from the county’s public health department, the suicide rate in La Plata County is 30% higher than the Colorado average, which is 36% higher than the national average.
Porter-Norton emphasized that mental health affects all aspects of the community.
“You all know somebody, or you yourself struggle with mental health issues, or you yourself have an addiction, or you yourself are in recovery, or have a family member that you feel might be struggling,” she told the audience.
About 40% of Axis’ annual funding comes from patients covered by Medicaid, said Haley Leonard, public relations director for Axis Health. Cuts to Medicaid would likely lead to a substantial decline in services.
In rural areas like La Plata County, Medicaid is often the only access lower-income residents have to mental health care. But Leonard emphasized the cuts would affect not only vulnerable people but the entire community – many of whom are not on Medicaid but still rely on Axis services.
“If a service is impacted, it’s not just for Medicaid patients,” Leonard said.
Axis Health provides a variety of counseling services, psychiatric care and crisis interventions to the entire community.
At the Writers on the Range event, several audience participants briefly mentioned the difficulty of finding counseling services or psychiatrists in Durango who are willing to accept private insurance.
Axis fills that need. Unlike many other mental health providers, they accept Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance.
It also has a discount program, which was recently expanded to help a wider range of people afford care, Leonard said. An example she provided: A single parent with one child making an income of $48,000 would qualify for the sliding scale payment plan.
“That’s a huge improvement for people who are kind of falling into that gap in the community (of people) that can’t get medicaid, don’t qualify for programs and maybe have catastrophic (insurance) coverage only,” Leonard said.
The current budget plan Republican lawmakers are trying to pass through Congress would cut $625 billion from Medicaid.
At the moment, the future of Axis programs if the cuts are passed, is up in the air.
“We are still watching to see how it all shakes out until we can truly understand what may be impacted at program level. There’s a lot that is unknown,” Leonard said.
Porter-Norton said La Plata County residents who want to prevent those cuts should contact their elected officials, as the measure is under consideration in the House this week.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
A previous version of this story incorrect said the co-responder program – a collaboration between Axis Integrated Health and local law enforcement agencies that pairs mental health professionals with law enforcement officer to respond to crises in the field – received Medicaid funding. That information was a miscommunication at the Writers on the Range event. The co-responder program is funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.
