[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 41 (Tuesday, March 15, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H1348]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CRISIS HURTS REAL PEOPLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
New Mexico (Ms. Michelle Lujan Grisham) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, I rise to 
speak about a crisis in my home State of New Mexico, a crisis that has 
hurt real people who rely on the Medicaid program for lifesaving care.
  Mr. Speaker, almost 3 years ago, the New Mexico Human Services 
Department, with the support of Governor Susana Martinez, claimed that 
it had credible allegations of fraud and suspended Medicaid payments to 
15 behavioral health providers. This move wiped out the behavioral 
health system in a State where there are already significant provider 
shortages.
  I want to take a minute to talk about what that really means. That 
means if you are a person who struggles with schizophrenia but manages 
it effectively with regular treatment, that regular treatment stops and 
you go back to square one. That means that if you are someone who has 
been diagnosed as bipolar, who has finally found a trusted provider, 
someone who has brought some stability and comfort to your care plan, 
you no longer have access to that person.
  The loss of services is devastating, and I have seen it firsthand. 
There is a constituent who typically calls my office every day, 
multiple times a day. He calls my office. He calls other members of the 
delegation, the mayor's office, and the chief of police. But from time 
to time the calls stop. They stop because this individual, who can be 
the most warm-hearted person I know, is in jail. He has a mental 
illness and a substance abuse problem and can be belligerent when he 
feels threatened, so he sometimes has run-ins with local law 
enforcement, and he ends up in jail because the system is failing him. 
He is not receiving the services he needs.
  Our jails and sometimes our emergency rooms have become the de facto 
behavioral health system in our State because, when you don't have the 
infrastructure to care for individuals with behavioral health issues, 
that is where people end up.
  Mr. Speaker, I am, frankly, appalled that people in my home State are 
being treated in this way, but if you can believe it, it gets worse.
  Last month, the New Mexico attorney general completed his review of 
the allegations and found that there did not appear to be a pattern of 
fraud. Thirteen of the 15 providers accused of fraud have now been 
cleared, and the people of New Mexico are left to wonder why, why a 
whole State's behavioral health system was wiped out and a large 
population of vulnerable individuals left to fend for themselves. I 
think they deserve answers.
  I have been working with my colleagues in the New Mexico delegation, 
pushing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to exercise 
Federal oversight and ensure accountability since the payment 
suspension was announced. We have sent multiple letters, made phone 
calls, held in-person meetings with officials at every level at CMS and 
HHS, and I have to say I am extremely disappointed by their lack of 
engagement.
  We sent another letter to CMS in February sharing the attorney 
general's report and asking that they conduct a Federal investigation, 
and we are going to continue pushing for accountability and working to 
make sure this never happens again.
  I plan to introduce legislation that would ensure network adequacy 
and continuity of care in a State's Medicaid program, and I know my 
colleagues have legislation in the works as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I have spent my entire career fighting for vulnerable 
New Mexicans, people who are voiceless in the political process. It 
would be easy to ignore them, as so many have done, because they are 
too busy struggling to survive to engage in the political process. It 
would be easy, but it would be wrong.
  This is the most egregious abuse of power I have seen in my decades 
of government service, and I will not sit idly by while the most 
vulnerable among us suffer. We must have action. We must have 
accountability.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in calling for a long 
overdue Federal investigation of the behavioral health provider 
suspension in New Mexico.

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