Oklahoma lawmakers are working to ensure
organizations offering health insurance cover mental health treatment the same
way they do medical treatment.
Federal law already mandates mental
health parity from group health plans and insurance companies, but Senate
Bill 1718 would require it of any entity offering health
coverage and regulated by the state insurance department.
Sen. John Michael Montgomery said he
does not expect their costs to go up as a result.
"No insurance companies have
approached me with detailed analyses of costs or anything like that,"
Montgomery said.
SB1718 would replace references in
state law to "severe mental illness" like schizophrenia that must be
covered with the broader "mental health conditions and substance abuse
disorder." Sen. John Haste said that will help his plan to enlist doctors
to help reduce suicides in the state.
"If we go down this path and,
like, a doctor recognizes that someone needs treatment or help related to
mental health, suicides and so forth, it’s not always covered. And so, at the
end of the day, they’re not going to get help," Haste said.
The bill would also prohibit
insurers from imposing different limits on mental health care than they do on
comparable medical care.
"This is kind of where cancer
was a lot of years ago when the coverage wasn’t happening. Today, it’s just
standard coverage. I think it’s very important that we do this to help those
that truly are dealing with mental health. I think it’s one of those that could
actually save lives," Haste said.
SB1718 passed out of a Senate
committee on Monday.
About OrionNet Systems
OrionNet is an Oklahoma small
business founded in 2001. OrionNet has designed, developed and supported
applications created both for the client-server and web environments, as well
as developing, marketing and supporting a commercial application for the
counseling centers industry.
Visit the OrionNet Systems’
website, www.iorion.com, or
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