With recent cuts by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Wisconsin is expected to lose at least $235 million in COVID-era health funding, according to a press release by Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul.
These cuts will impact a large number of programs within the state ranging from substance abuse, rural healthcare, EMS infrastructure and infectious disease research to mental health, like Mental Health America of Wisconsin’s Uplift Wisconsin Warmline which shut down Saturday.
The Warmline was Wisconsin’s only statewide, peer-ran mental health line. It was staffed by certified peer operators who had lived experience with mental health struggles or substance abuse. Last year, it received 24,000 calls.
“It’s really meant to be a place for connection and support before people reach a point of crisis,” said Erica Steib, state suicide prevention program manager at Mental Health America of Wisconsin. “Uplift is meant to be a place where people can just call to have someone to talk to who understands what they’re going through, who has also struggled with mental health.”
Kris Ekman is one of the Warmline’s 20 peer operators now furloughed by its closure. He has served as a peer operator since the program launched in July 2023.
“It was something that I wish I had growing up,” Ekman said. “It means a genuinely confidential, safe place.”
The Warmline operated seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Unlike 998 and other emergency hotlines, the Warmline gave people a safe space to talk about their mental health and receive referrals without the risk of involuntary intervention or police involvement.
“I think we have a very gentle and informed approach, being able to take those high-risk calls and be able to de-escalate it, and not just hand it over to people who aren’t even trained in dealing with people with mental health,” said Ekman. “That can be straight up dangerous.”
Since the Warmline’s 2023 launch, it has been entirely funded by a $600,000 federal grant received annually through the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act. This funding was intended to continue through Sept. 30, 2025, but was instead terminated in March by the HHS along with $11 billion in other public health grants.
In response to these cuts, Wisconsin’s Attorney General Josh Kaul joined 22 other states and the District of Columbia in a lawsuit against the HHS and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. On Thursday, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order, which ordered the HHS to briefly halt the termination of this funding until the preliminary injunction hearing. It is not clear if this will temporarily allow the Warmline to reopen.
In February, Governor Tony Evers recommended roughly $1.1 million, split over two years, be added to the state’s 2025-27 biennial budget to take over funding the program after September, when the federal funding was originally set to expire.
Over the next few months, the proposed budget will face a revision process by the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee. Then it will need to pass both houses of Legislature before arriving back at the governor’s desk to be signed into law.
“We need a lot of support from just the broader public to try to advocate for this and make it known that people care about mental health, and people want people to be able to access care,” said Steib.
If the proposed funding survives this process, it would still leave the Warmline without any funding for several months. Because of this, Mental Health America of Wisconsin launched a fundraiser as an attempt to temporarily keep the Warmline going through its website and a GoFundMe.