Privatizing North Carolina’s state mental hospitals is a bad idea

By: Marvin Swartz, M.D.

Outlets: North Carolina Newsline

Published: August 11, 2026

Words: 613

Last Updated: 1 week ago

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Our public mental health system has struggled mightily to adequately serve the people of North Carolina. A cornerstone of that system is our three state hospitals.

Legislatively-mandated public mental health reforms in the early 2000’s ended government operation of county-based outpatient mental health programs, and critically cut the bed capacity of state hospitals by half, creating crippling logjams in admissions. In recent years, even that diminished bed capacity has been further over-burdened by court referrals …

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