Leadership at Mercy Behavioral Health in Pittsburgh is concerned about the very real possibility that fewer people will be able to access their services with proposed budget cuts.

“Many people will lose Medicaid,” (a health plan for elderly, disabled, and low-income Americans that is funded partly by states and partly by the federal government) says Jane Miller. She is director of Government and Community Relations at Mercy Behavioral Health, a nonprofit organization in Pittsburgh that provides recovery-oriented and community-based mental health resources, drug treatment and prevention services as well as programs for people with intellectual disabilities.

“If people lose primary health care coverage, it may result in fewer people seeking help or receiving referrals for mental health services,” says Richard Rach, executive director of the organization.

“There are no state hospitals to provide services or long-term mental health care,” he also says. “Without the services we provide, many people will have nowhere to turn.”

Miller explains that people served by Mercy Behavioral Health also will be affected by cuts in federal housing programs and in transportation services for seniors and persons receiving public assistance.

“Housing will be more difficult to find and subsidized vouchers will be more difficult to obtain,” she says. “This will lead to more homelessness, hunger and, potentially, depression. More people will seek our support and we will have fewer resources to help.”

Mercy Behavioral Health is part of the Pittsburgh Mercy Health System and Catholic Health East, sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy.

Data sources

• U.S. Census Bureau, “American FactFinder,” 2007 American Community Survey (accessed May 2011). Data came from the following tables: Statewide poverty percentages, GCT1701, Ratio of income to poverty level, C17002
• U.S. Census Bureau, “American FactFinder,” 2009 American Community Survey (accessed May 2011). Data came from the following tables: Statewide poverty percentages, GCT1701, Ratio of income to poverty level, C17002
• Half in Ten analysis of Table 1, 2007 State Expenditure Report, National Association of State Budget Officers.
• Half in Ten analysis of Table 1, 2009 State Expenditure Report, National Association of State Budget Officers.
• U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2007 through 2008.
• U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2009 through 2010.