Imagine your child or siblings having an “episode,” as some call it. This person had to be taken to a Georgia hospital — hopefully without police help.
How do you pay for it – knowing that medical care will be expensive and probably not covered by insurance?
In fact, medical costs are the biggest contributor to bankruptcy both in Georgia and across the country. And insurance companies haven’t exactly volunteered to cover the cost of mental health care.
So far — with an additional push from the Georgia General Assembly.
I admit I didn’t entirely agree with many of the initiatives that the Republican-led convention has introduced over the past two years. I think they went too far and too fast on some of their more well-known actions.
But their passage of legislation requiring health plans to cover mental illnesses the same way they cover physical illnesses is almost “transformative,” according to a state lawmaker.
The legislation would also apply to Georgia Medicaid and the State Health Benefit Plan.
It was brought into the Senate by a Newton County Assemblyman, District 17 Senator Brian Strickland, R-McDonough. Governor Brian Kemp signed it Monday.
Care management organizations (CMOs) participating in Georgia Medicaid must devote at least 85% of their revenue to patient care, the Capitol Beat News Service reported.
In another way that Georgia lawmakers — led by House Speaker David Ralston — see as a priority, the bill also provides a loan program to address the shortage of mental health specialists that many rural areas of the state especially are rare.
It offers credit waivers to various types of mental health specialists, as well as general practitioners, if they work in areas with a shortage of such professionals.
The bill authorizes the Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission, of which Strickland is a member, to continue working on mental health reforms until mid-2025.
“Many parts of this bill are long-term investments,” he said. “But we will begin the process to make Georgia not only the #1 state to do business in, but also the #1 state for mental health services.”
The Senate has not changed current law, which requires a mentally disturbed person to be involuntarily admitted to a mental health facility for an evaluation if they pose an “imminent” danger to themselves or others, Capitol Beat reported.
Strickland said an officer can have a person examined without having to charge them with a crime.
The original House version of the bill was removed from the bill “imminent,” meaning the threat had to happen and couldn’t happen any time soon.
It also authorizes the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth to offer mental health training to police officers — in a rare bipartisanship because it was instituted by a Democrat.
State Insurance Commissioner John King hailed the bill as ensuring “an end product that provides much-needed coverage without undermining our values or forcing insurers to cover controversial treatments.”
The bill overcame health insurance opposition and such false claims as protecting pedophiles.
A related bill would allow local law enforcement agencies to develop procedures for psychiatric workers to work with police to respond to 911 calls, including bringing in a trained psychiatric worker, the intelligence service reported.
According to the nonprofit organization Mental Health America of Georgia, this state ranks 48th out of 50 states and Washington, DC for access to mental health care, resources, and insurance.
A person with a serious mental illness has a one in five chance of ending up in jail or the local jail rather than a hospital, and sheriff’s deputies and police officers with little mental training have borne the brunt of the problems for years.
Ralston – who has made the bill his top priority for this year’s session – told House members after the vote, “Hope won today.” He received a standing ovation.
The hope of many injured Georgians – and their families – has indeed triumphed.
Tom Spigolon is the news editor of The Covington News. He can be reached at tspigolon@covnews.com.
