(MCT) — WASHINGTON — The recent mass killings in Tucson, Aurora and Newtown have sparked public conversations about the deficiencies in state-run mental health systems across the United States. But few states are poised to spend their own money to reverse as much as a decade of budget cutbacks in those areas.

Instead, many of them are counting on an infusion of federal mental health dollars. Because Medicaid includes mental health benefits, those states that opt into the Medicaid expansion included in President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act will be able to make mental health coverage available to thousands of their residents who do not now have it.