(NYT) – Eliminating outreach to people with severe mental illness set off such a cascade of bad outcomes that Idaho has scrambled to reverse the cuts.

His was the first death, but not the last, among the Idahoans who lost access to the home visits and medical care the program provides.

In January, a 49-year-old man was found in his trailer in the city of Nampa. The same month, a 36-year-old man was found in the closet where he slept in the desert town of Arco. In February, a man in his 40s died at his home in Boise; providers said he was too paranoid to take medication to treat a chronic health condition.

The deaths so alarmed Idaho legislators that last week they took the unusual step of voting to restore funding for the program, known as assertive community treatment, or ACT. (Read More)