MDHHS Director Elizabeth Hertel on House Republican budget

LANSING, Mich. - Today, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Director Elizabeth Hertel released the following statement in response to the House Republicans' budget proposal.

The proposed House budget, which cuts $4.95 billion from MDHHS, would drastically impact our ability to protect the health, safety and prosperity of Michigan families.

The House budget eliminates more than 1,600 positions. This means:

• Less child protective services workers keeping kids safe by investigating abuse and neglect complaints.
• Fewer benefits specialists helping connect families to food assistance, health benefits and other resources.
• Fewer disease specialists responding to public health threats and protecting families.
• Less staff conducting fraud, waste and abuse investigations to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent properly.

The House budget would result in significant service reductions to Michigan's 10 million residents through loss of programs. This includes:

• $20 million in adult dental coverage.
• $10 million to help hospitals improve maternal health care and outcomes.
• $7 million for Office of Community Violence, which would eliminate the office created to lead statewide efforts to reduce gun violence and save lives.
• $4 million to address homelessness.

The House budget slashes funding to the state psychiatric hospitals by $6.8 million, including cuts to staffing, medical services and necessary facility maintenance. It also fails to appropriate funding for additional staffing needed to operate the new Southeast Michigan Psychiatric Hospital in Northville, which is slated to open in 2026. This would affect vital behavioral health services and reduce the number of patients the state can care for at its hospitals, further increasing wait times and impeding progress addressing the behavioral health crisis facing the state.

One-third of small town and rural Michigan residents are covered by Medicaid, and the proposed budget would result in the loss of health coverage for thousands of individuals in rural communities. As families will still need health care services, this would force hospitals and other local safety nets to absorb the costs of caring for those who have lost coverage and face potential closure as they struggle to maintain services.

MDHHS urges our state legislators to continue funding to the department's budget in order to serve Michigan families.

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