Rep. Tarra Simmons supports new legislation in Washington state to provide mental health coverage

“Rep. Tarra Simmons [Leading with Conviction™ 2018] says there were many points in her recovery from post-traumatic stress disorder that she was denied mental health treatment or had it cut off prematurely. In absence, she coped with drugs.

“‘That’s how I ended up in prison,’ Simmons, Washington’s first formerly incarcerated lawmaker, said before the House Health Care & Wellness Committee in January. ‘If we want to get real about crime and addiction we have to treat mental health, because that’s the only real root cause of a lot of these problems that we face.’

If we want to get real about crime and addiction we have to treat mental health

“Simmons, a Democrat from Bremerton representing the 23rd District, says too many Washingtonians are not receiving preventative behavioral health care because commercial insurance companies, relying on opaque and proprietary criteria, deem that care not to be ‘medically necessary.’

“A piece of legislation she sponsored, House Bill 1432, could fix that.

“The far-reaching legislation — which passed out of the Senate Monday and now heads to Gov. Bob Ferguson’s desk — requires private insurance companies follow transparent, and widely agreed upon criteria when making coverage determinations about mental health and substance abuse treatments. Carriers would have to cover services a patient’s doctor deem ‘medically necessary.’

“In a phone interview, Simmons said most crimes are the result of untreated mental health conditions. Providing timely and affordable access to behavioral health care is critical to keeping people struggling with their mental health from spiraling to the point of crisis or jail.

“‘This is to get us out of just working on reentry from incarceration,’ she said, ‘and try to prevent crime instead.’”

Read the full story at KitsapSun.com.