Gubernatorial candidates address mental health workforce shortage in Riverside County

Riverside County faces one of California's most severe mental health provider shortages, with just one provider per 370 residents, far fewer than counties like Los Angeles, according to a question posed during a gubernatorial forum held at UC Riverside on Friday.

The shortage, projected to worsen through 2033 despite the county's rapid growth, emerged as a key concern during the Health Matters forum featuring four Democratic candidates for governor: Xavier Becerra, former U.S. Health and Human Services secretary; California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond; Antonio Villaraigosa, former Los Angeles mayor and former state Assembly speaker; and Betty Yee, former state controller.

Thurmond, who currently provides $20,000 scholarships for aspiring mental health clinicians, proposes expanding these programs statewide with a focus on underserved areas including the Inland Empire.

In a direct appeal to Inland Empire residents, Thurmond, who identified himself as "the Inland Empire's newest resident," addressed the region's health challenges: "As you all know, this is the region that has the worst air quality in the entire United States, and we have to provide more resources to address respiratory care and other illnesses that are associated with it."

He proposes "grow your own" programs to help young people become healthcare providers by removing training barriers. Thurmond also helped launch the 988 mental health crisis hotline, available 24/7, and pledged to provide scholarships and loan deferrals for those who want to become mental health clinicians in the Inland Empire.

Villaraigosa said suicide is the number one cause of death among youth since the pandemic.

"We have a mental health, not a crisis, an emergency. People are killing themselves," Villaraigosa said.

He advocates for mental health parity—equal pay for mental and physical health providers. Villaraigosa led efforts on the managed care organization tax, arguing that inadequate reimbursement rates limit access to care.

"The issue isn't coverage. The issue is access, because people can't get a doctor to give them care when they get seven bucks for that visit," he said.

Yee focuses on enforcement of existing mental health parity laws, arguing California fails to enforce equal reimbursement rates.

"We are not looking at our health systems in terms of whether they are continuing to build a robust provider network to deal with mental health for our diverse populations," Yee said.

Yee pledged to improve healthcare in the Inland Empire by investing to "uplift a healthcare workforce right here in the IE, that can be responsive to being able to provide culturally competent care, that can be responsive to the chronic health conditions that so many are suffering with."

Becerra said nine in 10 Americans reported experiencing a mental health crisis during COVID-19.

"When I became secretary, the president asked us to leap into this one big time because so many people were dying now, not of COVID the disease, but of things like drug overdose, suicidal ideation and the inability to access the care that they needed," Becerra said.

He expanded the network of certified community behavioral health clinics, which provide 24/7 critical access care.

Becerra proposes pairing mental health professionals with K-12 schools to introduce students to mental health careers.

The candidates' proposals come as California grapples with broader healthcare challenges, including potential federal healthcare cuts.

During a rapid-fire question session, Thurmond, Yee and Becerra indicated support for establishing a state-level single-payer healthcare system in California, while Villaraigosa did not.

The forum, dubbed "Health Matters: A Conversation with California's Next Governor," was co-hosted by UC Riverside and organized by 11 nonpartisan California health-focused advocacy organizations. About 300 community leaders, nonprofit partners, local residents and elected officials attended the Nov. 7 event at UCR.