Georgia’s House of Representatives on Tuesday pushed ahead with a wide range of changes to the state’s lagging mental health system, with a sponsor pledging that “we will actually make a difference.”
House Bill 1013 passed 169-3 and went to the state Senate for further debate.
“We have an opportunity to make at least one major change and possibly a real solution,” said Rep. Todd Jones, a Cumming Republican.
The measure would require insurers to pay for mental health care the same way they pay for physical illness, and require insurance regulators to monitor compliance. The law would make it easier to place someone in care without their consent and provide forgivable loans to people who become mental health professionals.
According to Mental Health America, Georgia ranks 48th for access to mental health care.
“We are losing the battle for the future to hopelessness and despair,” House Speaker David Ralston, a Blue Ridge Republican, said of current conditions. Ralston’s support for the measure has taken it through the House of Representatives, and on Tuesday he urged the Senate not to “pick” it.
“I hope they will realize that the stakes are high…” Ralston said of Senators. “Life is at stake with this bill.”
The requirement for parity in mental health insurance has long been law, but officials say insurers are still not obeying.
“Parity is the most important principle that we’ve debated nationally for over 20 years,” said Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, a Decatur Democrat.
The measure would relax Georgia’s standard for compulsory confinement. Now a police officer or crisis worker is not allowed to take anyone against their will, unless there is a risk of an “immediate life-threatening crisis”. The new law would instead allow someone to be admitted if an officer or worker has “a reasonable expectation” that “significant psychiatric deterioration will occur in the near future.”
The measure would also create a pilot program of “assisted outpatient treatment,” a form of involuntary outpatient care aimed at people who have been hospitalized or incarcerated for mental illness within the past three years, who are deteriorating and who are not voluntarily participate in treatment.
Rep. Philip Singleton, a Republican from Sharpsburg, was among the few opponents, warning that it could drive up health insurance costs, let “the medical bureaucrat class” make harmful decisions, and force churches to charge insurers for treating morally objectionable people Conditions such as gender dysphoria. He also warned of who could be locked up under relaxed compulsory confinement.
“This essentially allows the state to incarcerate them over and over again at their discretion for the rest of their lives,” Singleton said.
The bill is expected to cost $29 million, including an expansion of grants for transportation, crisis teams and other services. Below that amount would be $10 million to pay off loans for people becoming mental health professionals.
“We are expanding the ability to meaningfully deliver mental health services in rural and underserved areas,” Oliver said.
The measure would also direct a state government office to create a unified list of prescription drugs for mental illnesses that would be paid for by Medicaid, the PeachCare children’s insurance program, and the state health insurance plan.
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