9-8-8 Crisis Response Act

This bill, titled the 9-8-8 Crisis Response Act , seeks to significantly improve access to mental health crisis response services across the nation. It achieves this by substantially increasing appropriations for the Mental Health Crisis Response Partnership Pilot Program , allocating $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2027 through 2029, a tenfold increase from previous years. Furthermore, the legislation expands the scope of Medicaid coverage under State plans to include not only qualifying community-based mobile crisis intervention services but also regional and local lifeline call center operations and services furnished by crisis receiving and stabilization facilities . These facilities are defined with specific requirements, including providing 23-hour observation and 48-hour crisis stabilization beds, operating 24/7 with a sliding scale payment, and supporting "no-wrong-door" admission capacity for various first responders and family members. The federal matching rate for these newly covered services is set at 85 percent, and an additional $5,000,000 is appropriated for the Secretary to support these efforts.