Beim Foundation Funds Provide Access to Behavioral Health Care for Under- and Uninsured Children
People of all ages throughout Maine are affected by lack of adequate insurance. Often, those most affected are low-income children and families whose household income disqualifies them from receiving MaineCare, but who lack the financial resources to pay for mental health services including:
- Families who have private insurance with high deductibles for mental health services, making services difficult to access,
- Families that suddenly lose their insurance when a parent has a job change or job loss,
- Families that do not have MaineCare but may qualify due to income or a child’s disability,
- Some groups of New Mainers, who have come to live in Maine from other countries, may be limited in their access to MaineCare.
Thanks to the generous support of the Beim Foundation, Spurwink was able to provide critical behavioral health support to under- and un-insured children in greater Portland. Twenty-three clients received critical case management and counseling services in public schools and in the community through the grant funding. 100% of the children who accessed Beim funding would not otherwise have been able to access case management or therapy services due to financial hardship, lack of insurance, or high deductible health insurance plans, with Spurwink clinicians and case managers helping nearly 40% enroll in MaineCare for ongoing support.
One parent whose child received services through the grant shared: “Beim funding allowed us desperately needed access to community case management, which allowed us to acquire MaineCare and information on what other services we needed to be looking into. The connection with school and community case management is making [our son’s] transition to post-secondary and adult services so much less confusing than it would have been otherwise. It was a blessing when we needed one.”
To learn how you can partner with Spurwink to provide critical access to mental health services for children, adults, and families, contact our Development Office at giving@spurwink.org.