OPINION: Health care should be accessible to everyone, regardless of insurance status

I recently hosted a special visitor here in Oregon who helped me shine a light on the importance of behavioral health services.

Tom Coderre, who is the first person in recovery to lead the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (better known as SAMHSA), joined me in the 6th District for a series of conversations with local mental health providers and stakeholders.

We visited two community health centers in McMinnville, highlighting the important role that these facilities play when it comes to filling gaps in our health care system — especially in rural areas like Yamhill County.

While there are several different kinds of community health centers, all of them help meet a similar need: providing quality health care to folks who need it, regardless of their ability to pay. These facilities primarily serve low-income, working families who otherwise would not be able to afford care.

And they are effective, too. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, patients who received care at Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics saw a 74% reduction in hospitalization, 68% reduction in visits to the emergency room, and 33% decrease in homelessness.

Faced with a growing mental health and addiction crisis in Oregon, we need community health centers to help connect more people with treatment. Yet these centers are consistently underfunded and understaffed.

During our roundtable discussions in McMinnville, most people talked about the workforce shortage and a persistent lack of funding from the federal government. Providers often come to these clinics straight out of graduate school. After gaining experience, many of them decide to enter private practice where pay is generally more lucrative — leaving community health centers to fight over the few who remain.

Another issue that came up is that there is currently no direct federal funding for school-based health centers (SBHCs), which are co-located on or near school grounds to help connect students with mental health and substance use care.

Without the funding that other community health centers rely on, SBHCS are often — if not always — losing money on their services. But school-based health centers are frequently the first stop for a child in crisis.

Treating our children saves time, trauma and money if we avoid having to treat them as adults. We should be investing in our kids’ mental health, not short-changing it.

Here’s the bottom line: We need to create a strong workforce pipeline to help recruit and retain skilled mental health workers in the public sector, and we must implement a sustainable funding model that will help these centers meet the needs of their communities.

I am a proud cosponsor of two pieces of legislation that would establish direct grants for school-based health centers — the Mental Health for Students Act and the Student Support Act. Both bills would help solve the funding issue for SBHCs, relieving the pressure on individual providers while expanding access to care for students and their families.

Furthermore, as Congress begins funding negotiations for next year, I will be working hard to ensure community health centers get their fair share of the pie.

Expanding access to mental and behavioral health care is not a controversial topic. Most Americans know someone who has struggled with mental illness or addiction, so they understand the need to make treatment more accessible and affordable.

I am energized by the conversations we had earlier this month. Now, I look forward turning these ideas into sensible policy that will help provide more Oregonians with the care and treatment they deserve.