Sponsors (8)
The bill increases and standardizes federal support for public-health preparedness and mobile crisis response, improving resources and care standards, but it raises federal costs and may limit or complicate coverage and participation for some crisis services and providers during implementation.
Hospitals, state and local public-health systems will get sustained and larger federal funding: the bill keeps a $10M bridge in FY2025–2026 and funds program expansion with higher annual appropriations beginning FY2027 (authorizations cited up to $100M–$300M annually), supporting preparedness activities.
Medicaid beneficiaries and states expanding mobile crisis response will get more federal support: qualifying community-based mobile crisis intervention services become eligible for enhanced federal matching and the bill provides a $5,000,000 HHS appropriation to help implementation.
Hospitals and crisis-care providers will operate with clearer expectations: the bill creates a statutory definition for crisis receiving and stabilization facilities (licensure, time-limited observation/stabilization beds, 24/7 access, non‑discrimination, short average stays), which can standardize care quality and access norms.
Taxpayers face higher federal spending: the authorizations could raise annual federal outlays (sections reference authorizations up to hundreds of millions), increasing the federal budget burden or requiring offsets elsewhere.
Medicaid beneficiaries and non‑mobile crisis services risk reduced federal coverage or clarity because the bill removes explicit Medicaid coverage language for regional/local lifeline call centers and some crisis services, potentially leading to service gaps.
States and providers may face administrative and compliance burdens: narrowing eligibility to 'qualifying community-based mobile crisis intervention services' plus new operational requirements (licensure, bed types, 24/7 access, short average stays) could force program redesigns, raise compliance costs, and exclude providers unable to meet the criteria.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Raises multi-year authorizations for 9-8-8, narrows the Medicaid option to community-based mobile crisis services, defines stabilization facilities, and adds a $5M appropriation.
Official title: To amend title V of the Public Health Service Act and title XIX of the Social Security Act to promote access to mental health crisis response services.
Introduced September 3, 2026 by Kim Schrier · Last progress September 3, 2026
Increases federal funding authorizations for the national 9-8-8 behavioral health crisis hotline for fiscal years 2025–2029 and narrows the Medicaid state option to focus explicitly on qualifying community-based mobile crisis intervention services. It also adds a $5 million appropriation for administrative purposes and defines criteria for crisis receiving and stabilization facilities, with the Medicaid change treated as if included in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The bill replaces prior dollar authorizations with a new multi-year schedule ($10M/year for 2025–2026; $100M/year for 2027–2029), limits the Medicaid optional coverage language to community-based mobile crisis intervention services (removing broader enumerated categories), updates timing for enhanced federal matching, and supplies a small appropriation to the Department of Health and Human Services to carry out related work. It also creates a five-part definition of crisis receiving and stabilization facilities and makes the Medicaid amendments effective retroactively to ARPA provisions.