Todd Jones is a father and lawmaker. His family saw firsthand why the state needs to change Georgia’s mental health system.
ATLANTA – Most families who have seen their child struggle with a mental illness have two things in common: tears and then resilience.
Tracey Jones embodied both when she stood before a House Health and Human Services Committee in February, supporting HB 1013, a bill to improve access to care in Georgia.
“I never thought that I would be standing here today lobbying for the passage of a mental health bill,” Jones said, pausing to hold back tears. “I know there’s nowhere else I should be than right here for my son Justin.”
Tracey has never spoken before a legislative committee but said the issue was too important not to leave her comfort zone and speak out.
Tracey and her husband Todd Jones said they watched their spunky and athletic eldest son take over the world up until his junior year of high school. At that moment, the light in his shining eyes began to fade.
His parents told of their son’s brilliance: 12 AP classes in high school and a brilliant debater. But after years in psychosis, he struggled to maintain an easy conversation.
It was nearly five years after their son started behaving differently when they were finally diagnosed: schizoaffective disorder. It would be another three years before he was put on a treatment plan that would allow him to regain control of his life.
“One of the side effects of schizoaffectivity is poor hygiene. I said, ‘Son, let’s go take a shower,'” Todd recalled.
Todd said his son replied, “Dad, I can’t. The razor blades are coming out of the shower head.”
Personal experience of Georgia’s failing mental health care system gave Todd the passion and purpose to speak as a father and legislator.
“Our challenge today shouldn’t be, can we cure mental illness, can we cure substance abuse – rather our challenge should be, can we at least start,” Todd asked his fellow MPs before voting on HB1013. “Can we give you a start here button?”
As state representative, Todd worked with MP Mary Margaret Oliver to introduce the Mental Health Parity Act. At its core, this legislation is a requirement that health insurance companies cover mental health and medical treatment equally.
“If there are no restrictions on visits from physical health doctors, then there are no restrictions on visits from mental health doctors either,” he said.
HB 1013: WHAT IT DOES
The bill defines medical necessity as the standard by which insurers are held accountable. For now, insurance providers have been able to define the term, and Jones said he believes it’s time everyone worked to the same standard.
The bill also requires that companies administering Medicaid spend 85 cents on every dollar spent on patient care.
“We are aware that administration costs are incurred. We’re not blind to it,” he said. “But we definitely don’t want 83 or 82[cents spent on patient care]where we are right now.”
The Reveal investigative reporter Rebecca Lindstrom asked if three cents on every dollar could really make that much difference.
“Oh yes,” he said. “That extra three cents, based on last year’s spending, comes to nearly half a billion dollars.”
The Senate passed SB 342, a mental health parity bill that only applies to private insurance.
Jones and other proponents of the House version want to ensure that Medicaid providers follow the same standard and that the reporting requirements are detailed enough to really analyze compliance.
The 80-page bill seeks to fill the gaps in the Georgian system in a variety of ways, from parity to improving or creating new programs. The state’s Budget Office estimates that the entire list will cost about $127 million to pass.
A section deals with co-responder teams. This is a police officer and a psychiatrist working together to respond to specific 911 calls.
The Senate has already passed SB 403 supporting the idea, now it’s up to the committee to resolve differences between the two bills.
The bill is now in a Senate subcommittee, awaiting a vote before it can be submitted for final approval.
THE CHALLENGE OF FINDING LONG-TERM CARE
The Joneses said they hope all of these changes, if passed, will treat people like their son sooner and longer. The family shared with The Reveal a list of all the places Justin was cared for.
Among them were four states with more than 30 visits to 20 different facilities.
The Joneses each said the system was put in place to stabilize the current crisis and let him go. Or, if longer care was available, Justin would let it go once he no longer wanted treatment.
As an adult, treatment is voluntary. Institutions cannot force him to stay.
That was a challenge for the family considering their son lives with another diagnosis called anosognosia. This means Justin is unaware of his own mental state.
“He doesn’t realize he has the disease,” Tracey said. “It’s not denial. You don’t understand.”
As a result, her son ended up in a repeated cycle of short-term stabilization with no follow-up for a long-term solution.
“It’s almost like having a developer build one-tenth of every house,” Todd explained. “You may have poured the concrete on the house, but you never built the walls. You never get stuck on the line. You never did anything to let anyone live in that house. It’s no different.”
At times Justin was homeless. It mostly happened after he escaped from a treatment facility. Each time his parents went looking for him.
“His hair had completely grown out,” Todd said. “Bart Nails was literally this far – and he didn’t want our help. He pretty much said, ‘If you can just get me a sandwich, I’ll be fine.’ Of course we bought him a sandwich.”
Todd and Tracey said the only reason their son is stable now is because he broke the law. It sounds absurd, especially when you look at it in relation to another disease like cancer.
“We wouldn’t say, ‘We can’t give you the treatment you need for your stage three breast cancer,'” Todd said. “But if you rob over there, we can put you in a facility.”
By court order, Justin spent seven months in a state hospital. He was unable to check himself out of treatment and ended up being monitored long enough to get the right medication.
Todd and Tracey know old man Justin is dead and the tears aren’t over yet. But the Mental Health Parity Act brings them hope.
Hope for Justin. Hope for Georgia.
I hope that the broken mental health system in Georgia will be fixed before it harms more families that depend on it.
#Keeping is a series of investigations that exposes the gaps in Georgia’s mental health system that result in thousands of children being placed in government care.
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