NMHA Legislative Alert
July 18, 2005

 Assault on Access to Mental Health Care
Action Needed to Defeat Two Dangerous Insurance Proposals

During the week of July 25, the House of Representatives will vote on two bills the House leadership claims will increase access to affordable health insurance. Unfortunately, these bills would very likely have the opposite effect, particularly for people with mental illness, other disabilities, or low incomes. NMHA urges affiliates to contact their Representatives to express your strong opposition to these bills:


Association Health Plans, The Small Business Fairness Act (H.R. 525); and
Eliminating State Protections in the Individual Market (H.R.2355).

1. Association Health Plans, The Small Business Health Fairness Act (H.R. 525)

Background

Association Health Plans (AHPs) allow small businesses to band together to collectively purchase health benefits. Currently, AHPs are regulated jointly under federal and state law. But H.R. 525, would exempt AHPs from state regulation, including state mental health parity requirements.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has projected that H.R. 525 would increase premiums for 80% of workers in small firms. AHPs would save money by offering "barebones" benefit packages that limit or exclude services including mental health care. Those who need comprehensive coverage would have to pay much more.

H.R. 525 would undermine state oversight of insurance, 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.

Finally, studies have shown that such legislation would result in only a relatively small number of people becoming newly insured.

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, all Representatives will be pressured to support H.R. 525 by the powerful small business community, and therefore it is important that we contact all Representatives. Please also contact your Senators to express your opposition to the AHP legislation. AHP proponents will be pressuring the Senate to schedule a vote on the AHP bill, and it is critical that Senators hear from the opposition.

Undecided Representatives


Bishop (GA)
Boren (OK)
Boucher (VA)
Carhahan (MO)
Cleaver (MO)
Costa (CA)
Costello (IL)
Cramer (AL)
Cuellar (TX)

Davis (IL)
Edwards (TX)
Harman (CA)
Herseth (SD)
Israel (NY)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
E.B. Johnson (TX)
Lipinski (IL)
Marshall (GA)

Matheson (UT)
Matsui (CA)
McKinney (GA)
Moore (WI)
Sanchez, Loretta (CA)
Skelton (MO)
Snyder (AR)
Wasserman Schultz (FL)

Targeted Senators

Alexander (TN)
Allen (VA)
Chafee (RI)
Coburn (OK)
Crapo (ID)
DeWine (OH)
Ensign (NV)
Enzi (WY)
Graham (SC)
Grassley (IA)
Kyl (AZ)
Roberts (KS)
Smith (OR)

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.

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.

H.R. 525 would eliminate state protections that limit how much and how often premiums can be increased. This would be devastating for groups with workers who have chronic illnesses like mental illness.

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.

2. Eliminating State Protections in the Individual Market (H.R.2355)

Background

The so-called Health Care Choice Act, H.R. 2355 would allow a health insurer offering individual insurance plans to follow the laws of only a single state that they choose, while able to sell insurance in any and all other states of its choice. The insurer would be exempt from the laws of any secondary state that regulate the offer, sale, renewal or issuance of a policy, including benefit mandates, regulations governing premium ratings, and other consumer protections.

NMHA is strongly concerned that this legislation would promote a race to the bottom, in which insurers would choose as their "primary" states, those states that offer little or no consumer protections. Under this legislation, people would lose all of the protections enacted by their state of residence governing individual insurance plans.

Action Needed

Please contact your members of the House of Representatives and urge them to oppose H.R. 2355.

Message Points

On behalf of the Mental Health Association of ___________, I am calling/writing to express our concerns about H.R. 2355, a bill that would deny people the consumer protections enacted by their own state of residence governing individual health insurance.

H.R. 2355 would allow insurers in the individual market to offer drastically limited "bare bones" coverage and drive up premiums when patients become sick and need more comprehensive care.


Marge Parrish
Special Projects Coordinator
Mental Health Association
314/773-1399