Sponsor
Susie Lee
Representative · D-NV
Representative · D-NV
The bill expands and funds behavioral health and SUD services at federally funded community health centers—improving access and integrating care for vulnerable patients in the short term—at the cost of increased federal spending, potential operational strain for smaller centers, and reliance on funding that expires in 2031.
People with mental health conditions and substance use disorders (especially low-income individuals) will have increased access to behavioral health and SUD services because federally funded community health centers will be required to offer these services, improving identification and treatment.
Community health centers will receive dedicated federal funding ($700 million annually, FY2027–2031) to expand and sustain behavioral health and SUD services, enabling hiring, program expansion, and service provision.
Local primary care capacity and integration of behavioral health into routine care will be strengthened, improving continuity of care for people with chronic conditions and potentially reducing unmet behavioral health needs.
Service expansions rely on time-limited funding (through FY2027–2031), so patients and centers could lose services or face cutbacks after 2031 if new funding is not provided.
Taxpayers will finance increased federal spending of $700 million per year through 2031, increasing the federal budgetary outlay.
Smaller and rural community health centers may face operational strain meeting the new required service mandate (staffing, licensing, workflows) even with additional funding, risking implementation challenges or uneven access.
Based on analysis of 1 section of legislative text.
Requires federally funded community health centers to provide behavioral/mental health and substance use disorder services and authorizes $700M/year transfers to HHS for FY2027–2031.
Official title: To amend Public Health Service Act to require community health centers to provide behavioral and mental health and substance use disorder services, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 6, 2026 by Susie Lee · Last progress April 6, 2026
Adds behavioral and mental health and substance use disorder services to the list of required primary health services that federally funded community health centers must provide, and authorizes $700 million per year in transfers to HHS for each fiscal year 2027–2031 to support those services. It also makes minor technical adjustments to existing paragraph numbering in the community health center statute. The effect is to expand the scope of services at community health centers to include integrated mental health and substance use disorder care and to provide dedicated federal funding for five years to support that expansion.