Colorado bill would give children free MH services during pandemic

Abstract

The Colorado state legislature is working to give children free access to mental health care to help them cope with the mental ramifications of the COVID‐19 pandemic, CNN reported April 11. HB21‐1258, introduced in the House on April 6, seeks to create a temporary program that would provide minors with three free sessions with a mental health professional. The bipartisan bill allocates $9 million to reimburse providers for these visits, which may be in person or virtual. The bill acknowledges the pandemic put “extraordinary stress” on young Coloradans “who have experienced enormous disruptions to school, social activities, and support networks, resulting in increased isolation and, in many cases, new or exacerbated instability, particularly as a result of a parent's loss of employment or stable housing.… Since the pandemic began, the Colorado crisis services hotline has experienced a thirty percent increase in calls and texts, and Children's Hospital Colorado has seen a ten percent increase in the number of kids who visit the psychiatric emergency department due to thoughts of suicide.”