Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson has introduced a bill (H.R. 2757) that would repeal the exclusion from Medicaid of services for patients in an institution for mental diseases (IMD). IMDs are defined as inpatient facilities of more than 16 beds whose patient roster is over 51% people with severe mental illness.
Congresswoman Johnson noted, “Many Americans rely on Medicaid, and by repealing this IMD exclusion, we can help more Americans receive the healthcare they need. There isn’t a need for this exclusion because there has been a decline in large psychiatric hospitals and Medicaid currently permits the treatment of children, adolescents, and seniors with severe mental illness in IMDS. The current law is discriminatory and leaves many citizens with severe mental illnesses without access to healthcare.”
In the 1960s, federal policy excluded IMDs from Medicaid reimbursement to prevent states and counties from shifting responsibility for caring for this population to the federal government. Currently, Medicaid payments are prohibited for IMDs with a population between the ages of 22 and 64.
