State lawmakers have passed a sweeping overhaul of Georgia’s mental health system. The House Speaker David Ralston-backed bill makes a host of major changes, including a requirement that all health insurance plans cover mental health conditions as they do physical ones. Now, addiction and mental health advocates who’ve been working on the bill for years are cheering its passage.
On Tuesday, lawmakers’ late-night negotiations resulted in language that dramatically improves access to mental health services across the state, says Jeff Breedlove, with the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse.
“It’s so simplistic, just writing the definitions,” he says. “But that sets the foundation for every decision made about care and coverage.”
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