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OGDEN, Utah (AP) -- Only half of the people classified in Utah as needing mental health services are getting any regular care, a new report says.
Mental-health clinics in Utah are accepting fewer patients and discharging others earlier than usual because of federal cutbacks to Medicaid since 2003.
The Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health put out a warning in its annual report for 2005.
The agency says Medicaid cutbacks mean only half of Utah's 83-thousand emotionally disturbed people are receiving regular treatment.
It blames a 1-point-five million cut in federal funding for Utah's Medicaid budget -- money taken out of mental-health services.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
