Although the law is clear that the state must provide mental health services until age 21, the state is routinely ending service after age 18, impacting potentially hundreds of young people in Hawaiʻi.

The suit claims DHS has illegally discriminated against the residents by drastically cutting their medical benefits based on the plaintiffs’ status as legal residents from other countries.

Circuit Court Judge Gary W.B. Chang ruled that the Department of Human Services illegally cut the immigrants’ access to state-funded medical benefits.