House Subcommittee Hears Testimony On Mental Health Parity Legislation

House Education and Labor Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee Chair Robert Andrews (D-N.J.) and ranking member John Kline (R-Minn.) during a hearing on Tuesday said they support mental health parity legislation, although it is unclear whether they agree on how strong such legislation should be in mandating coverage, CongressDaily reports (Johnson, CongressDaily, 7/11).

The House and Senate have proposed separate versions of the legislation (HR 1424 and S 558) that both have similar goals but differ in the scope of benefits they would affect, CQ HealthBeat reports.

Neil Trautwein, vice president of the National Retail Federation, said that the House bill would not give employers or insurers enough power to manage the costs of mental health benefits. He said, "Surely the sponsors of HR 1424 are not advocating unfettered access to coverage and reimbursement, are they?"

Jon Breyfogle, representing the American Benefits Council, added that the House legislation "does not establish 'parity' at all because it requires much more specificity of coverage than is required for any non-behavioral conditions."

The Senate mental health parity legislation would leave it to employers to determine the scope of mental health benefits to which parity provisions applied, CQ HealthBeat reports. Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner Sean Dilweg said that parity laws in many states would be at risk of being "weakened or completely eliminated" by language in the Senate version of the legislation.

Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, who testified at the hearing, said, "These laws have been long-fought battles with some states managing wonderful successes," adding, "It is so important that any federal legislation not pre-empt any of these gains."

At the hearing, Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.) -- who sponsored the House legislation with Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) -- said that "CEO after CEO after CEO" has told him that parity provisions saved money because of gains in employee productivity.

Andrews said that he thinks the House provisions that control medical costs are adequate, despite criticisms from business groups. Andrews said he is not sure when his panel will mark up the legislation but noted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is committed to passing mental health parity legislation this year (CQ HealthBeat, 7/10).

Broadcast Coverage

C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" on Tuesday included a discussion with David Wellstone, co-founder of the Wellstone Action Network, about the legislation ("Washington Journal," C-SPAN, 7/10). Video of the segment is available online. C-SPAN video of House testimony by Carter also is available online (C-SPAN, 7/10).

"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Buy Cipro Without Prescription