House gives state workers coverage for mental illness
BOISE – Legislation to take a first step toward requiring health insurance to cover mental illness just like other illnesses in Idaho passed the House on Wednesday on a 44-24 vote.
The bill, HB 615, would launch a three-year pilot project to provide “parity” for mental health coverage just for state employees. Costs would be carefully studied, to provide information at the end of the project for use by the state and private insurers.
Opponents said they feared any increase in premium costs from adding the new benefit would add to the number of uninsured people in Idaho, but backers said state employees aren’t going to lose their state-provided health insurance because costs go up 1 percent.
“This minimal cost is not going to make them drop their insurance coverage,” said Rep. Kathie Garrett, R-Boise. “It’s wrong to discriminate against people that, because of a biological illness, their life has been turned upside-down.”
Idaho and Wyoming are now the only states with no parity requirements. Several other states started off with pilot projects granting parity to state employees before expanding it to all insurance statewide.
Rep. Margaret Henbest, D-Boise, said, “It’s measured, it’s careful, it’s going to give us information we need to guide policy in the future, and it’s the right thing to do.”
Backers of the bill estimated it could cost the state up to $1.8 million to provide the added coverage but said that’s a high estimate, and it could cost much less – or even save money. That’s what the pilot project is designed to find out.
“Our committee has … spent a great deal of time in finding ways to control the rising cost of the Health and Welfare budget,” said Rep. Sharon Block, R-Idaho Falls, chairwoman of the House Health and Welfare Committee. “This legislation would affect the Health and Welfare budget in a positive way. A pilot program is a good way to start out this kind of a policy.”
Supporters also noted that the state employee health insurance fund has a balance that could easily cover the project’s costs.
Garrett told the House: “Although we have come a long way in our understanding and treatment of persons with mental illness, we still have not come far enough. We still discriminate against them in health care, we criminalize mental illness by having our correctional institution be our largest mental health system in our state. … Throughout Idaho, we have a mental health crisis.”
The bill now moves to the Senate.