The Chronicles Of Grant County

(The image was provided courtesy of Gerd Altmann through Pixabay, April 12, 2017.)

The efforts to expand suicide prevention services as well as other mental health services through the 988 telephone line has been welcomed by many in the healthcare industry and within governmental organizations.

When the government implements a new program, one of the questions that arise is how the new program will be funded.

In the case of the 988 telephone line, a report entitled "States' Options And Choices In Financing 988 And Crisis Services Systems" detailed some of the funding possibilities. This report was authored by Arlene Hahn Stephenson, Senior Advisor of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, in April of 2022.

This report indicated that one technique being considered by a number of jurisdictions is to fund the 988 telephone line through a structure similar to the financing of the 911 telephone line.

"The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) envisioned that funding [for the 988 telephone line] would function as it does for 911," according to this report, "through state-managed monthly fees that apply to all telecommunications carriers, and interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers including one-way VoIP providers, and CMRS providers and providers of interconnected text messaging services."

"Congress authorized states to pass user fees on telephone lines (commercial landline, mobile service, prepaid wireless voice service, and interconnected voice over internet protocol service lines), the same mechanism used to fund most 911 systems," the report continued. "For example, 911 fees assessed from telephone lines will raise approximately $3 billion in 2020. It has been legal and acceptable in most of the country for 911 telecommunications providers to charge fees on their customers and to remit the collected fees to the relevant governmental bodies. Although this is a widely utilized and sustainable funding mechanism for 911, it has proved to be controversial for 988 as some perceive it as another tax and some telecommunications companies have lobbied against it. The federal law allows states to assess telecommunication fees for the purpose of (1) routing calls to 988 call centers approved by NSPL, and (2) for personnel and the provision of crisis services (acute mental health, crisis outreach, and stabilization services resulting from calls to 988)."

Some states and one commonwealth have already implemented such a tax on telecommunication services for the 988 telephone line.

The report indicated that "Virginia was the first state to pass a 988 user fee – $0.08 per line for prepaid wireless and $0.12 for subscription wireless to support all crisis centers that will answer 988 contacts. As of March 2022, Washington, Nevada, and Colorado also authorized small fees."

According to The National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP), Colorado implemented a "...surcharge not to exceed $ .30 per month..." for funding of the 988 telephone line and Washington State implemented "...a tiered rate over time, starting at $ .24 in October of 2021 and increasing to $ .40 in January of 2023..." for financing the 988 telephone line.

The State of New Mexico has not yet implemented such a tax to pay specifically for the 988 telephone line. Santa Fe has not responded to requests regarding whether the State is actively considering such a tax.

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© 2022 Richard McDonough