Was very quiet.
It's just weird being in here with
it kind of empty. For years we watched
as Anna and David Bullard spoke before
legislative committees
and lobbied in the holes,
but I kept coming and Eva
kept coming with me. I'm Ava
Bullard, and they
kept coming kept telling their story,
hoping lawmakers would listen.
Ironic, since as a baby,
Ava's mom thought her daughter was deaf,
she would cry at odd times and
didn't seem to respond to sounds.
But she's not
F na. Now she can hear I can
hear it wasn't a hearing
impairment, it was autism. She
was nonverbal.
She had no skills whatsoever when she
was two and a half, three years old,
so no feeding skills play skills.
The shocking part was that none of the
services that were prescribed by the
physician were covered in the state of
Georgia by insurance or by Medicaid.
Determined to help,
they maxed out their credit cards,
their families chipped into
hoping ABA applied behavioral
analysis would make a difference.
After a few weeks,
the progress was obvious.
What was their first word?
Chido? She does. I think it was.
We're basically figuring
out the function. Why is this person doing
the behavior that they're doing that,
say, be a trained therapist? Lindsey Jones.
She says it is an important tool
to help children and their parents
find healthy ways to communicate.
Or frustration turns to aggression
stop. Sometimes the youth either
get too big and they their
aggression becomes dangerous.
I think that's the times that we see
the parents where they feel overwhelmed
and they just can't handle it.
And we know when that happens.
Children are more likely to be abandoned.
Thank you for listening today.
That's why Anna and Ava
wanted a lotta work choir,
commercial insurance and Medicaid cover,
ABA and other therapies
for children with autism.
It took seven years.
The law was signed by their governor deal.
Right there. We're going to do
something about that today.
Not only did Georgia mandate insurance
providers cover therapies for
children with autism, it said a high
Medicaid reimbursement rate compared
to other states. So
that has brought a lot of
providers here to Georgia.
It is proof that if you properly
fund a program, providers
willing to deliver it will come.
Child welfare advocates say it is time to
take this same approach to other parts
of our behavioral health care system,
and we can't wait seven years to do it
if we don't address the parity,
is she then we're going to
continue to struggle when
skinners, the vice president of
operations for Devereux psychiatric
residential treatment facility
in Metro Atlanta Devereaux,
serves children with significant
emotional disturbance? It
is one of the few facilities that will work.
With children struggling with
aggressive tendencies, another gap in
our behavioral health care system.
It's a specialized service and so you have
to accept that it's going to cost more.
It may cost more,
but she says Georgia doesn't pay more,
forcing her facility and others
to take patients from states that
do reimburse it higher rates.
For example, Georgia pays about
$2800 for a child to receive a
week of treatment at Devereux.
Florida will pay 4200. The
providers are beginning to take
more and more out of state youth
in order to remain financially
viable and so that means Georgia
Youth when they have those needs.
There's nowhere to go.
She says that gap leads to problems
with access and workforce,
according to voices for Georgia's children,
there's a shortage of mental health
professionals in almost every county.
Nearly half don't even have a
single full-time psychiatrist.
Or psychologist,
that's why Skinner jumped at
the opportunity to serve on the
state's behavioral health reform
and Innovation Commission.
My first
thought was I want to be a part of that,
but then my second thought was I hope
it's not going to be just another
Commission that makes recommendations
and doesn't result in sustainable change.
She hasn't seen that change yet,
but believes the next legislative session
will be different things right here.
And I never worn. Not everyone
will want to spend the money.
I'll never forget one of the legislators
looked at me and he said it's not personal
and I thought it's very personal.
It's very very personal according
to Georgia's Insurance Commission.
Ava's law has increased monthly
insurance premiums by $0.97, and
Eva Camille blurred and I'm eight years old.
But even says, look at what
that dollar has done for her.
I wouldn't be where I am today at all.
From a toddler that couldn't talk to
a senior at Tombstone High School,
a cheerleader at the top of her class as
a dual enrollment
student at Georgia Southern.
We just didn't give up.
He just kept coming back, kept
coming back. I think they were
shocked every time a lot. What
are we going to do next as Georgia
looks at how to help those children
with severe emotional disturbances.
Bullards hope their story offers
some hope that change can happen.
If you're willing to fight.