Branstad: Mental health care belongs with state

DES MOINES - Gov. Terry Branstad says it will take years and possibly more than the $1.3 billion spent now, but the state should take over mental-health operations from the counties.

“We're not going to solve all of this in one year,” Branstad said. He said the transition would be “somewhat similar” to the way the state took over the court system in the 1980s.

“We took pieces of it each year and over the course of four years, the state was able to completely take over the court system from the property taxpayers at the local level and make it a statewide system,” he said.

House Republicans are expected to unveil their approach to fixing the state's mental-health system this week.

“Ours is similar to the governor's plan,” said Rep. Renee Schulte, R-Cedar Rapids, who chairs the House committee that has been studying the state's mental-health operation since January.

Schulte said the cost of the Republican program was still being figured out Monday. Last week during floor debate, Schulte promised her fellow House members that she would have figures this week when Democrats tried to add a $19.2 million appropriation to the health services budget.

The governor and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds both criticized the state's mental-health system Monday, saying it lacked uniformity and made accessibility dependent on where someone lives.

“We have 99 county plans rather than one consistent system of delivery,” Reynolds said. “We have disparity in service, access, levels of care and quality.”

The $1.3 billion spent now includes federal, state and county money. Branstad said he hopes the proposed state takeover would streamline the system and bring costs down.

- By Mike Wiser, Gazette Des Moines Bureau