MENTAL HEALTH TRUST FUND GETS FLUSH IN N.C. BUDGET DEAL

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Programs to help people with mental disabilities
get better treatment or return to the community got a big boost
Thursday in the two-year spending package tentatively approved by lawmakers.

Mental health advocates and state officials were pleased that
legislators chose to give $47.5 million to a trust fund designed to
help the mentally ill move to less restrictive environments in light
of court rulings.

Community-based efforts have struggled, due to poor funding, to take
on the job of helping these citizens, the advocates said. This will
start to change that, said Sally Cameron, executive director of the
North Carolina Psychological Association.

A final vote on the budget by the House and Senate is expected
Friday.

"This sends the message that the persons with these disabilities are a
high priority with the Legislature," Cameron said. "It is just an
incredible beginning to assist citizens who are in need. I think we're
all overwhelmed."

The fund also would be used to begin and operate community programs to
help children with substance abuse problems or in overcrowded
psychiatric hospitals.

The amount given to the fund is significant in a difficult budget year
in which the Department of Health and Human Services took deep cuts
and trimmed 263 positions.

"I'm very appreciative of the work done on the budget," said HHS
secretary Carmen Hooker Buell.

A huge outcry followed a Senate budget proposal in May that would have
closed Dorothea Dix psychiatric hospital in 2003, as well as schools
for the mentally retarded and deaf children. There was no trust fund
created.

Mental health advocates complained that there wasn't enough money set
aside to deal with patients that would be forced out of Dix and other
centers.

In response, some senators proposed raising taxes on beer, wine and
liquor, with proceeds of $95 million annually going to a dedicated
trust fund. The House's budget plan in June created the trust fund and
gave it $7.5 million. Dix and the two remaining schools for the deaf
were kept open.

A series of tax increases in the budget that would raise $516 million
this year freed up more money to add another $40 million than the
House proposed.

Paula Wolf, a lobbyist for children's issues, said the difference was
pressure placed on legislators through rallies that followed the news
of potential closings.

"Overall, this was a tough year and I think the General Assembly tried
to come together and raise the revenue needed to save services for
vulnerable people," said Wolf, who is with the Covenant for North
Carolina's Children.

The budget doesn't set aside any money in the fund for the 2002-03
fiscal year. Sen. Steve Metcalf, who introduced the alcohol tax bill
in June, said legislators will have to fight for more money next spring.

"We've tried the whole session to meet the needs that we have with
mental health and substance abuse," said Metcalf, D-Buncombe. "I see
it as a down payment. It's not going to solve our own problems."

Advocates were also happy with other health provisions in the budget
that would fully fund NC Health Choice, the state's health insurance
plan for children in low-income families who don't qualify for
Medicaid. The budget provides another $8 million of the state's
portion of the plan to bring the number of children covered up to 82,000.

Buell also praised lawmakers for setting aside $6.5 million annually
in the budget for Gov. Mike Easley's "More at Four" pilot program for
at-risk 4-year-olds.

Cost savings came from job cuts and changes in the Medicaid systems
for doctors and for patients getting prescription drugs. The budget
also cut $10 million from the Smart Start early childhood initiative
and delayed more than $40 million in expansion for a second straight
year.

Some advocates also were unhappy that the budget set aside only $1
million this year to improve dental access for Medicaid patients. The
Senate version had included $7.5 million in part to resolve a lawsuit
filed last year by patients.

"That's not going to address the needs for children and adults," said
Adam Searing with the North Carolina Health Access Coalition. "That
amount of money is a slap in the face. It's worse than a root canal."