SACRAMENTO — Psychologists, social workers, marriage and family therapists, and other members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers will hold a public gathering with elected officials outside the State Capitol Building on Wednesday, May 14, which is Mental Health Matters Day, at the Capitol.
The event will begin at approximately 12:15 p.m. in between lobby visits with lawmakers to discuss NUHW’s priority bills this session. NUHW represents 19,000 California healthcare workers, including 6,000 mental health professionals, the majority of whom work at Kaiser Permanente.
Who/What: NUHW Lobby Day and public gathering, featuring the opportunity to talk to local mental health professionals and a visit from Assemblymember Dr. Jasmeet Bains, who is sponsoring a bill to help Kaiser patients get reimbursed when they’re forced to seek mental health care outside of Kaiser.
When and Where: Gathering will run from about 12:15 to 12:40 p.m., Wednesday, May 14, alongside Mental Health Matters Day booths at California State Capitol Park, near L Street between 12th and 13th Streets.
“We’ve made so much progress when it comes to erasing stigma and expanding the right to receive mental health treatment, but as therapists we know there is still not real parity for mental health care,” said Ilana Marcucci-Morris, a licensed clinical social worker for Kaiser in Sacramento. “Our legislative bills this year will help patients get the care they need, encourage more people to join our profession and make care more available to all Californians.”
NUHW members, many of whom just ended a 196-day strike of Kaiser Permanente in Southern California, have been on the front lines of the fight for mental health parity both in their workplaces and in Sacramento. This year, NUHW is sponsoring two bills that would help mental health patients and providers.
AB 1429, a bill authored by Assemblymember Bains, D-Delano, would make it much easier for Kaiser patients to get fully reimbursed for mental health treatment or medication that they couldn’t get directly from Kaiser. The requirement for Kaiser to reimburse members who simply attest in writing that they had to go outside of Kaiser to receive timely, appropriate mental health care or addiction medicine services would remain in effect until Kaiser can show state regulators that it has fixed the deficiencies in its behavioral health services for which it was required to pay a $200 million penalty in 2023.
SB 747, a bill authored by State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, is aimed at providing transparency about the disparity in compensation between behavioral health workers and comparable workers who provide medical/surgical care. Health plans and large medical groups would have to report compensation data to the Department of Industrial Relations, so analysts can better understand the disparity in pay and consider what might be done to encourage more Californians to enter behavioral health professions.
In 2021, NUHW sponsored State Sen. Wiener’s SB 221, which requires health plans to provide medically necessary follow-up therapy sessions within 10 business days. Last year, the union sponsored Assemblymember Gail Pellerin’s, AB 3211, which removed roadblocks that made it more difficult for the California Department of Managed Health Care to swiftly enforce mental health parity and other patient protection laws.
# # #
The National Union of Healthcare Workers is a member-led movement that represents 19,000 healthcare workers in California and Hawai’i, including more than 4,700 Kaiser mental health professionals.
