Newtown shooting highlights mental health benefits gaps

Patricia Rehmer, commissioner of the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, said there are limits on the number of services that can be used annually, which can create problems for families.

"I am often called, especially by parents of young adults who are now keeping their children — young adults — on their insurance until they're 26, who need the services that we provide," Rehmer said of her agency, which serves only people without private insurance.

"They need case management. They need supportive housing. They need interactions with their peers," she said. "Those are things that private insurance companies do not pay for."

Nelba Marquez-Greene, mother of 6-year-old Sandy Hook victim Ana Marquez-Greene and a licensed marriage and family therapist, said she hopes Connecticut will become a national model to improve its mental health system. In written testimony read by her sister on Tuesday, Marquez-Greene suggested that exposing families to trained mental health professionals to de-stigmatize mental health access and treatment. She also called for the state to fully fund programs that provide support to parents.

"My Ana Grace was murdered. She was six years old," Marquez-Greene wrote. "She was one of 26 innocent people massacred senselessly. This tragedy could have been prevented."