EXPLANATION: The Mental Health Parity Law does not provide sufficient support for Georgian immigrants
ATLANTA — Today, the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute issued a statement in response to Senate passage of the Mental Health Parity Act, or House Bill 1013. Legislators restored more robust parity language in HB 1013, ensuring higher pay for behavioral health services. However, the bill does not provide sufficient support for culturally and linguistically appropriate services that would expand access to behavioral health services for immigrant Georgians.
“Navigating a new country can be challenging and immigrants, like all Georgians, would benefit from access to behavioral health care. Unfortunately, the latest version of Georgia’s Mental Health Parity Act would fail immigrants due to a lack of adequate support for culturally and linguistically appropriate services,” he said Crystal Muñoz, Immigration Policy Analyst at GBPI. “Georgia’s immigrants make up about 10 percent of the state’s population, and more than 40 percent have limited English skills and would therefore benefit from language mental health services. In the future, the General Assembly should consider adding language that ensures equal access to behavioral healthcare from providers who themselves reflect the linguistic and cultural diversity of their patients or who have the training and translation support they need to provide quality care.”
Important details:
House Bill 1013 still lacks adequate support for culturally and linguistically appropriate services. Foreign-born Georgians make up about 10 percent of the population; more than 40 percent have limited knowledge of English. Studies show that when the provider and patient speak different languages, it affects both the quality of care and patient safety.
- Georgia can take steps to ensure that the expansion of the behavioral health ecosystem is consistent with national standards for culturally and linguistically appropriate services and with federal laws (e.g. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act) in is consistent ) through behavioral health-specific language interpreting services, translated materials, staff training on cultural competence, and more.
- For example, previous versions of the bill required co-response teams to use culturally and linguistically competent personnel or materials when responding to emergency calls involving a person in a behavioral health crisis.
- The language also stated that cultural sensitivity should be included in training for co-response teams. It is crucial that language is reintroduced into the bill.
- It is also important to expand the behavioral health staff in a way that reflects the growing linguistic and cultural diversity of Georgian communities.
- Language should be added to bill supporting increased access to linguistically and culturally compatible certified peer specialists in rural and other underserved and unserved communities.
- Language should also be added to ensure callable loans are offered to students enrolled in behavioral health programs who are native or fluent in languages other than English.
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