Michigan Lawmakers Push To Restore Suicide Prevention Funding for Farmers

Michigan farm (Deposit photos)

Two state lawmakers — a Republican and a Democrat — are pushing to restore mental health funding for farmers, saying they were inspired by a Bridge Michigan report on farmers’ unusually high suicide rate, the publication reports.

Bridge Michigan reported that Michigan farmers are five times more likely to commit suicide than the overall state rate. Unfortunately, state lawmakers defunded that program in the $81 billion state budget agreement this past October.

State Reps. Matt Beirlein, R-Vassar, and Jasper Martus, D-Flushing, are urging House and Senate leaders to restore funding in a future supplemental spending bill.

“Thanks to reporting from Bridge Michigan and conversations our legislative offices in Lansing have had, we know many Michigan farmers do not have insurance plans that cover mental health care and some have no insurance at all,” Beirlein said in a Friday statement, Bridge reports.

In September, Bridge reported that state had $112,000 to fight the suicide crisis for four years, but that money isn’t in the budget proposals of the House, Senate or Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.