FFIMI Shares Concern about Governor Healey’s Behavioral Health Cuts

Boston WWLP News Repost from 1/24/2025

by Robert Winant – FFIMI Steering Committee Member

Governor Healey announced her 2026 budget plan on Wednesday and advocates and healthcare workers say it could be catastrophic for the behavioral healthcare industry. The budget includes the closure of a Cape Cod mental health center and reducing Department of Mental Health case managers by 50%. The governor is pushing to increase the primary care workforce to improve access across the state and she says new investments will strengthen the behavioral healthcare workforce as well.”

I think it’s dangerous to close existing mental health facilities since there are so few already and cutting DMH case managers by 50% is a sad testimony to the lack of understanding about what is needed to provide adequate care to a very vulnerable population. -Robert Winant

Andrew Faritano, spokeperson for Raise Up Massachusetts, stated ““Deep cuts to mental health services and our state’s hospitals would be incredibly harmful, at a time when those systems are already understaffed and overstretched,” And the Massachusetts Nurses Association and SEIU both voiced concerns that these cuts exclusively hurt the state’s most vulnerable populations. The personnel cuts and facility closures do not need legislative approval and could result in higher patient caseloads in western Massachusetts and across the state.