LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Protecting Local Mental Health Care from Privatization

To whom it may concern:

At LifeWays, our mission has always been clear: to provide high-quality, community-based behavioral health services to the people of Jackson and Hillsdale counties. For decades, Michigan’s public mental health system has been governed locally, ensuring accountability, transparency, and care that reflects the needs of each community.

But that system is now at risk.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is proposing to open the management of behavioral health services to a competitive procurement process. While the proposal requires that bidders be nonprofit entities, it still allows large private nonprofits—some of which may operate outside of our region or even our state, like Blue Cross Blue Shield or Meridian Health Plan—to take over functions currently managed by locally governed public agencies. This shift would move decisions about mental health care funding and oversight further from the communities they serve, threatening the transparency, accountability, and responsiveness that define Michigan’s public system.

Under this plan, critical services could face delays or be denied; public requirements for open board meetings and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) compliance would be eliminated – stripping away transparency and accountability; consumer representation on oversight boards would no longer be guaranteed; Medicaid funding could be reduced at the point of care due to higher administrative costs – projected to cost the system an additional $500 million annually; and long-standing county authority and the 60-year partnership between local governments and the state would be replaced by untested regional entities.

This is not just a policy change. It is a threat to the public system we have built together with our partners, providers, and—most importantly—our consumers. Privatization risks fragmenting care, weakening local oversight, and prioritizing profits over people. It would undo decades of work focused on collaboration, community voice, and person-centered recovery.

LifeWays and its Board of Directors strongly oppose this proposal, and we are not alone. Local governments, advocates, and mental health professionals across Michigan are speaking out in defense of a system that works—and works locally.

If you share our concern, now is the time to act.

Contact your state legislators and urge them to protect Michigan’s public behavioral health system. Tell them to stop this rushed and harmful procurement process. Our communities deserve care decisions made by those who live here—not by out-of-state corporations unfamiliar with our people and their needs.

This can be done by completing a form at: www.cmham.org/advocacy/take-action-now/

Together, we must ensure that mental health care remains local, accountable, and centered on the people it serves.

Sincerely,

Maribeth Leonard, CEO

LifeWays