June 25th, 2008

Secretary of the Dept. of Public Welfare Estelle Richman took issue with the Philadelphia Inquirer’s editorial asking the state to give a COLA to mental health and mental retardation facilities (MH-MR).  Richman’s letter to the editor says the Inquirer failed to mention the half a billion dollar of state investments in expanded services for such facilities.

She continues:

“Assuming the governor’s budget passes as proposed, mental retardation service providers will have received more than a 40 percent increase in funding since 2003. This funding has enabled providers to remove 7,880 people from the waiting lists.”