Urgent NMHA Legislative Alert
April 21, 2005
 

House to Vote on Legislation Undermining State Parity Laws
Oppose Association Health Plan Bills!
 

As early as next week, the House of Representatives will vote on legislation that would shrink the impact of state parity laws. The Senate has held hearings on a companion bill as well. NMHA urges affiliates to contact their Members of Congress, particularly if they remain undecided on this issue, to express your strong opposition to these bills.

Background

Association Health Plans (AHP's), also known as multiple employer welfare arrangements (MEWAs), allow small businesses to band together through trade and professional associations to collectively purchase health benefits. Under current law, AHPs are regulated jointly under federal and state law. But the association health plan legislation before Congress, titled the Small Business Health Fairness Act (H.R. 525), would exempt AHPs from state regulation, including state mental health parity requirements.

Although supporters of the bill say it will increase health care coverage for many of the uninsured people in this country, studies have shown that such legislation would result in only a relatively small number of people becoming newly insured.

In addition, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has projected that H.R. 525 would increase premiums for 80 percent of workers in small firms - adversely affecting 20 million people. This is because AHPs would save money by offering pared-down "barebones" benefit packages that strictly limit or exclude certain medical services or treatments including mental health care. As a result, those who need more comprehensive coverage would be forced to pay much more for the care they need.

Finally, this AHP legislation would undermine state oversight of insurance agreements, thus exposing consumers to fraudulent providers and the risk that they will fail to pay policyholders' medical bills. In recent years, over 55,000 workers and their families have been left with an estimated $65 million in unpaid medical claims by fraudulent AHPs.

Status

The House passed essentially the same bill in 2003 and 2004, and both years the legislation languished in the Senate. In March, the House Education and the Workforce Committee passed this bill as well, clearing its way for the upcoming floor vote. President Bush has indicated that association health plans are a major component of his healthcare agenda, and he campaigned heavily in favor of them last fall.

Action Needed

Please contact your members of the House of Representatives to urge them to oppose the AHP legislation (H.R. 525). We particularly hope to target the following list of Representatives who remain undecided about this issue. However, supporters of H.R. 525 will be heavily lobbying all Representatives, and it is important that we contact all other Representatives as well.

Undecided Representatives:

Carnahan (MO)
Clay (MO)
Cleaver (MO)
Cuellar (TX)
E.B. Johnson (TX)
Herseth (SD)
Higgins (NY)
Israel (NY)
Lipinski (IL)
Loretta Sanchez (CA)
Matsui (CA)
Meek (FL)
Melancon (LA)
Moore (WI)
Rush (IL)
Schwartz (PA)
Thompson (MS)
Wasserman-Schultz (FL)

Message Points

On behalf of the Mental Health Association of ___________, I am calling/writing to express our concerns about the Association Health Plan bill (H.R. 525) that would exempt Association Health Plans from state laws.

This legislation will exempt these health plans from critical consumer protection laws, including state mental health parity laws that exist in 33 states.

Although we too want to see better access to health coverage for the uninsured, this legislation would not significantly improve access to coverage, while it WOULD dramatically increase premiums.

By undermining state authority to regulate health insurance agreements, this legislation would also expose consumers to increased risk of fraud and high medical bills that bogus or underfunded plan providers fail to pay.

I urge Representative _______ to vote against H.R. 525.

How to Contact Your U.S. Representative

E-mail: To email your Representative, go to www.house.gov/writerep. Enter your state and zip code and click "Contact my Representative." Fill out the requested contact information and click "Continue to Text Entry Form". Here you may type or paste your message to your Representative and click "Send Your Message" at the bottom of the screen.

Call: Telephone the U.S Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your Representative's office number.

Fax: Call your Representative's office to request the fax number or visit his or her Web site, where a fax number is usually listed.


Marge Parrish
Associate Program Director
Mental Health Association of Greater St. Louis
1905 South Grand Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63104
314-773-1399  voice
314-773-5930  fax
www.mhagstl.org

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