There has been a highly public fight for better mental health care access in Texas in recent years, with the state consistently ranking among the worst in the country. That’s according to reports from Mental Health America (MHA).
With access in Texas having reached a critical low point, medical schools across Texas are getting a cash infusion of $5 million to invest in Forensic Psychiatry programs. In East Texas, that includes the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler.
As Texas Public Radio reports, the grants are aimed at boosting mental health access in the state. Governor Greg Abbott says nine Texas schools, in all, will get more than a half million dollars each in grant funding. It’s part of the of the Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program through the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which aims to expand programs to train medical professionals in forensic psychiatry.
In a statement, Abbott’s office said the grants help expand “access to critical mental health services for individuals involved in legal proceedings and those requiring forensic evaluation and treatment.” Forensic psychiatrists are often used in criminal and civil court cases, such as determining competency to stand trial.
But the question remains whether the mental health care access program can make a dent in what’s already been described as a mental health and substance use crisis in the United States, even before the announcement of significant Medicaid and ACA cuts.
In the study, known as: The State of Mental Health in America 2025, in 2022-2023, 9.2% of adults with any mental illness (AMI) in the U.S. were uninsured, totaling over 5 million people. Nine of the states with the highest rates of uninsured adults were in the southern U.S. In Texas (ranked 51), nearly 1 in 5 adults with AMI did not have health insurance. The report highlights the fact that Medicaid, “is the largest payer for behavioral health care in the U.S. in 2023.”
The report added that, “26% of all adults with a mental illness or substance use disorder were covered by Medicaid, totaling 22 million adults.” Yet, substantial cuts to Medicaid and coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA), spelled out in the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, is expected to greatly exacerbate the lack of access to mental health care in this country. That’s according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which estimates 10 million people are estimated to become uninsured due to those cuts.
That is a critical distinction when you consider that a 2024 study by KFF reveals, “people who are uninsured are more likely to forgo needed mental and physical health care, leading to worse outcomes over time.”
