Southern Counties Say They Get Less for Mental Health
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Legislators and health officials from five Southern California counties met in Irvine on Monday to complain that their mental health programs were not receiving a fair share of state funds when compared to Los Angeles County.
“There simply is insufficient money for the need,” said state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach).
Bergeson, who organized the meeting for representatives from Orange, San Diego, Riverside, Imperial and San Bernardino counties, warned that under funding formulas for the five counties now, “only the most severely acute cases are being handled, and the others are being turned away.”
In fast-growing San Diego County, three residential treatment units have closed in the last two years because of a shortage of state funds, Bergeson said.
An analysis supplied by her office showed that in the 1986-87 fiscal year, Los Angeles County received $29.09 in state mental health funds per person and San Francisco received $54.08. By contrast, Orange County received $17.56; San Diego County, $17.16; San Bernardino County, $19.99; Riverside County, $20.80, and Imperial County, $22.30.
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