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State To Providers: Get Ready To Treat Without Pay

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A state government shutdown could cause a major ripple effect through society.

Low-income Minnesotans who rely on the state to pay for mental health and chemical health services might lose their benefits.

"Important information about your health care benefits," said Theresa Dolata who has Bi-polar Disorder and suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, as she read a letter she recently got from the state. "Without a state budget, we may not be able to pay for all health care services. You may have trouble getting health care services."

Dolata gets help through Vail Place, a non-profit which offers mental health services. She relies on medication and health insurance from the state, but soon worries she'll get cut off quickly come July 1 when the shutdown is expected to start.

"I can't afford to pay out-of-pocket for some of these psychiatric meds," she said. "It's not just about health care and the state shutting down. It affects your housing, your transportation, everything."

Dolata is not alone.

More than 14,000 Minnesotans get help from the Harriet Tubman Center in Minneapolis and its chemical and mental health services. They have little income and face the same pending problems, like Dolata does.

"People could die. That is the possibility here," said Paula Childers, Director of Clinical Services for Tubman's Chrysalis Center. "So it could be extremely problematic for people."

Childers is worried her clients will go off their medications, because they can't afford to buy them. She's also concluded that some smaller clinics could shutdown if the state shuts down and doesn't pay for client services.

Tubman relies heavily on state funding to operate. State government pays for 50 percent of those in her mental health programs, 80 percent on the chemical side. That's $70,000 in revenue from the state monthly.

"It's a huge amount of money for an agency this size. So we would very quickly be in trouble. Big trouble," Childers said, adding that she's already told employees they'll likely face furloughs.

She's also asked employees not to schedule therapy sessions the first week of the shutdown.

It's the only way Tubman can make it these days, continuing to provide crucial counseling for the most dependent Minnesotans.

Childers found out late Monday about Gov. Mark Dayton's plan to extend his original list of state critical services to include mental health care payments. He will petition a Ramsey County Court on Tuesday to continue those health care payments.

That could help solve a huge dilemma that Childers and other counseling organizations are currently facing.

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