NAMI Michigan

In 2004, mental health advocates worked hard to protect mental health drugs from prior authorization in the state’s Medicaid program. It was a dangerous situation when medications gained “preferred” Medicaid status only through cost considerations. We won! Now the Governor and the State Medicaid office want to repeal this legal protection!

More than any other factor; advances in medication made possible society’s shift from institutional treatment to community care for serious mental illnesses. There is great variability in how mental health drugs affect different people; more options are better than fewer, Elimination of access will create pain and chaos.

Days on the wrong drug for mental illness can leave a person in jail, a psychiatric hospital, a homeless shelter, in the ER, and in the public mental health system at taxpayer expense long-term. Let Governor Granholm and the Legislature know open access to medications per the current law is good public policy!