LANSING—As state budgets began to move on the Senate floor today, Senate Democrats fought to restore important health care funding and cost-effective initiatives. Priorities for Democrats included restoring funding to the Healthy Michigan Fund, securing money for preventative mental health courts and diversion programs, preserving funding for sexually transmitted disease prevention and treatment, protecting health care benefits for eligible young adults, and increasing funding for senior care programs like Meals on Wheels.

“These programs provide essential care and services to older adults, the sick and young people,” said Sen. Deb Cherry. “These resources are necessary to keep locally-implemented programs fully functional and help Michigan families maintain the care they all deserve.”

Some highlights from today’s efforts include:

• Senator Deb Cherry (D-Burton) introduced an amendment to restore $10.7 million to the Healthy Michigan Fund, which provides local programs for cancer prevention, cardiovascular health, maternal and child care, and immunizations to name a few. She also worked to reinstate Medicaid eligibility for certain 19- and 20-year olds—some of whom are aging out of foster care and are on their own for the first time.
• Senator Liz Brater (D-Ann Arbor) offered an amendment to provide $2.2 million to fund mental health courts and other diversion services, which would improve the cost-effectiveness of Michigan’s criminal justice system and save money for Michigan taxpayers, while at the same time ensuring that more people with mental illness receive appropriate care.
• Senator Glenn Anderson (D-Westland) sought to increase funding for aging care management, which provides for a broad array of community services for senior citizens, including in-home care and Meals on Wheels.
• Senator Martha G. Scott (D-Highland Park) introduced an amendment to restore $1 million for an initiative to increase awareness of and prevent sexually transmitted diseases. A recent study from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that at least one in four teenage girls nationwide, more than 3 million teens, has a sexually transmitted disease.

“Many people with mental illness are coming in contact with the criminal justice system because they don’t have access to adequate health care treatment,” said Sen. Brater. “The vast majority of people with mental illness who are arrested are charged with minor, nonviolent offenses. That is why we must restore funding for these critical programs to make sure these individuals are getting treatment in the mental health system, rather than in the prison system.”

“Our parents’ generation helped make this state an economic powerhouse and I think we owe Michigan’s seniors the best home health care we can possibly provide,” Sen. Anderson said. “I wholeheartedly appreciate our efforts to be fiscally responsible and proactive with the state budget this year, but I feel we should not do so at the expense of Michigan’s seniors.”

“As the prevalence of these sexually transmitted infections continues to increase, so does the need to continually address their prevention and treatment, and in turn, fund the programs to do so,” Sen. Scott said. “Properly leveraging taxpayer money towards the prevention and treatment of STDs now can offset the much greater health risks—and subsequently, costs— they pose down the road.”

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