Mental health parity bill gains new hope for passage

Art Nadler

Tuesday, May 25, 1999 | 11:31 a.m.

A bill guaranteeing that mental health patients receive the same level of treatment as those with physical diseases was pulled from the ashes Friday and could become law this week.

Senate Bill 356, mandating that insurance companies cover all mental illnesses, had been rejected by the Senate on May 19. Some legislators opposed the bill because it exempted state employees and employers who self-insure their workers.

Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, the main sponsor of SB356, said he talked to the legislators about their concerns and convinced them that state employees and self-insured companies would be covered under their own insurance plans.

Townsend attached the components of SB356, referred to as mental health parity, to Assembly Bill 293 as an amendment. It passed late Friday evening with an 11-7 vote.

Proponents of the mental health parity initiative are exuberant about the bill's resurrection.

"I think it is wonderful," Rosetta Johnson, president of the Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Nevada, said. "Something like this will ensure that people can continue to work and lead better lives."

Many people with mental health conditions -- such as those with schizophrenia, manic depression and panic disorders -- are able to lead normal lives with medications. But when their insurance companies don't pay for the drugs, and they can't afford to buy them, they may just forget about taking them, Johnson said.

Insurance industry representatives and some people within the small-business community think the passage of mental health parity will be disastrous for the state.

Marie Soldo, a lobbyist for the health insurance industry in Nevada, said insurance premiums will rise 3 percent, costing consumers $50 million a year. This will occur, she said, in addition to an expected 7 to 11 percent increase in premiums overall later this year.

"I was surprised that this passed," Soldo said. "It's disappointing. This is not a good time to do these types of increases in Nevada."

Bob Ostrovsky, a lobbyist for the business coalition Nevadans for Affordable Health Care, said he expected many small businesses to stop offering health insurance coverage, or raise their employees' premiums.

But Dr. Gary Lenkeit, a Las Vegas psychologist, said he didn't expect that to happen. He said an analysis conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the Nevada Psychological Association and the American Psychological Association showed that the employer contribution would only rise 1.2 percent, or $1.54 per member per month.

The taxpayers pick up the tab when mental health patients can't afford their medications, Lenkeit said. Now, he said, patients will be able to maintain normal lives as outpatients.

Townsend was able to convince three senators to vote in favor of the amendment. They were: Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, and Valerie Wiener and Dina Titus, both D-Las Vegas.

Neal said he was originally "misled" that state employees wouldn't be covered. He said any time mental health treatment is offered, it should be covered under insurance, just like other diseases.

Wiener said she was also concerned that public employees wouldn't be covered. But with the amended language from SB356, she is now assured that public employees will be covered under their own insurance contracts.

Attempts to reach Titus for comment were unsuccessful.

AB293 will go back to the Assembly this week for concurrence on the Senate amendment. If approved it will be sent to Gov. Kenny Guinn for his signature.

If Guinn signs the bill, Nevada will become the 25th state to have a mental health parity law.