We are playing with fire putting more federal money into mental health in the name of public safety.

As part of the Governor's call for a special session on red flag laws, Bill Lee is asking the legislature to consider the following...

"Directs TennCare to seek a waiver from the federal government to allow federal matching funds for Medicaid to cover services for mental illness and substance use disorders at institutions of mental diseases."

This "waiver" would mean that the state of Tennessee is going to propose addressing our mental health crisis by funding these programs with federal money and thereby bringing these treatments under more federal regulation and scrutiny.

What is even more nefarious about all of this is that these waivers for federal money all stem from the 2016 CURES Act signed into law as a final act of the Obama Administration which pumped billions into Fauci's NIH, reduced regulatory burden for the FDA and pharmaceutical development for novel diseases, and made adjustments to the FDA's emergency use authorization.

That same bill contains the regulatory landscape that Republicans put in place to address gun violence by way of mental health.

This is a trojan horse. More federal money equals more federal regulation and more federal control over the liberties of the people of Tennessee.

Legislators in Tennessee must give a resounding NO to this proposal.

CMS Letter SMD # 18--011 on Medicaid Waivers https://www.medicaid.gov/sites/default/files/federal-policy-guidance/downloads/smd18011.pdf

2016 21st Century CURES Act https://www.congress.gov/114/plaws/publ255/PLAW-114publ255.pdf

Medicaid IMD Exclusion https://medicaiddirectors.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/IMD-NAMD-Federal-Policy-Briefs.pdf

Biden Executive Order 14075 https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2022/06/15/executive-order-on-advancing-equality-for-lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-queer-and-intersex-individuals/