2021 Proposed Federal Budget Appropriations for Maternal and Mental Health

 
2021 Proposed Federal Budget Appropriations for Maternal and Mental Health
 

By Joy Burkhard, MBA
Founder and Executive Director, 2020 Mom

This blog post was updated 7/19 to include a missing bullet/budget item related to a Maternal Mental Health hotline.

This week the U.S. House Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (LHHS) appropriations subcommittee released the Full Year 2021 LHHS bill. This is the first step of many for the Federal appropriations process. These proposed funding levels are subject to change as each chamber considers its respective appropriations bills over the next couple of months. However, this bill is an important indication of the House Committee’s priorities.

The summary below notes how dollars are being proposed to be allocated which may impact Maternal Mental Health.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

The bill funds SAMHSA at $6 billion, an increase of $96 million above FY20, and $238 million above the President’s budget request. SAMHSA funding includes increased support for:

  • Suicide prevention, including $21 million for the Zero Suicide program (stay tuned for a webinar in the works with this team). This represents an increase of $5 million above FY20, and $21 million for the Suicide Lifeline, an increase of $2 million above FY20.

  • $35 million for a new set-aside in the mental health block grant to support mental health crisis systems.

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)

The bill includes $7.2 billion for HRSA, an increase of $157 million above FY20 and $905 million above the President’s budget request. The amount includes:

  • $981 million, an increase of $37 million above FY20 for programs to improve maternal and child health, including an additional $25 million for the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant.

  • $334 million, an increase of $16 million above FY20, for Rural Health Programs, including increases for telehealth and rural hospitals.

  • $3 million for a maternal mental health hotline to be staffed 24/7 by qualified counselors.

We will update this post as the budget is modified over the remaining months of 2020.

Learn more about the budget appropriations here.