Mental health advocates lament defeat of insurance bill

Art Nadler

Wednesday, April 21, 1999 | 10:15 a.m.

State mental health advocates expressed shock Tuesday in the wake of the defeat of a Senate bill that would have required health insurance companies to pay for mental illness treatments at the same level as physical diseases.

Advocates were hoping Nevada would join 19 other states in instituting a mental health parity law.

"This state just isn't interested in people with mental illnesses," Rosetta Johnson, president of the Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Nevada, said. "Now the jails will be burdened. People who can't get insurance or afford medication will end up in jail when they become violent."

If Senate Bill 356 had passed, it would have mandated, in part, that coverage be provided for such mental illnesses as schizophrenia, manic depression and panic disorders. Co-payments and deductibles would have been set at a maximum of $18 for outpatient visits and $180 for inpatient admissions. It was defeated by a 9-9 vote Monday in the Senate.

The health insurance industry in Nevada argued SB356 would have added to premium costs, which are already expected to go up 7 percent to 10 percent this year, lobbyist Marie Soldo said. The bill was doomed, she said, when it was amended to exempt state and self-insured companies.

She also called SB356 a "broad-based" bill, in that it covered all aspects of mental illness and would have been too much of a financial burden for small businesses.

"That's a Trojan Horse story," Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, the principal sponsor of SB356, said. "I'm a little tired of hearing this sky-is-falling, Chicken Little stuff. We need to help people."

Townsend disagreed that a mental health parity law would raise premiums. He said North Carolina has a full parity law -- including self-employed companies -- and premiums went down in the state. The senator said he planned to introduce his bill again in the 2001 Legislature.

Between 15,000 and 20,000 Nevadans suffer from some form of mental illness, Johnson said. Of those, she said, 49 percent have no health insurance.

"Mental health parity allows people to remain an active part of the community," Johnson said. "Medications can run a couple hundred dollars a month. Now people will have to pay for medications themselves."