More mental health care coverage urged, insurers cite costs

But insurance company representatives said requiring increased mental health benefits would be costly, and other witnesses said some companies might drop all mental health coverages if the Legislature required increased benefits.

The meeting of the Legislative Subcommittee on Health Care ended Monday with Assemblywoman Vivian Freeman, D-Reno, saying she'd consult with the committee chairman, Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, on the panel's next move.

Freeman added it's clear from the testimony that mandating insurance companies to provide mental health coverage "isn't going to involve that much of an increase."

"I think the insurance companies are afraid it would open the floodgates," Freeman said. "I think they will find they are wrong."

Nevada law doesn't require that employee health care policies include mental health coverage.

The amount of money nationally spent on mental health benefits has dropped 54 percent since 1988, according to mental health advocacy organizations. Companies that continue to offer coverage generally have reduced benefits.

Witnesses told the subcommittee that the lack of required mental health coverage has caused Nevada to rank first in suicide and has led to increased crime and incarceration.

"One way or another we are going to pay for it," said Rosetta Johnson, president of the Alliance for Mentally Ill of Nevada. "The reason so many people end up in jail is there is no insurance."

"The biggest treatment centers aren't in Reno or Las Vegas, but in Carson City where the state prisons are," added Reno psychiatrist Phillip Rich.

Other witnesses included Jennifer Ruppert, a Carson City woman who said she attempted suicide two years ago and now has unpaid medical and mental health care bills exceeding $50,000.

"I need help," she said. "I really want you to see the face of the consumer."

Las Vegas lawyer Richard Passo said insurance costs have increased only 1 percent to 2 percent in states that have mandated parity in employee health insurance plans.

But Sue Hawkins, representing Health Plans of Nevada, said her organization opposes mandating mental health coverage or passing parity legislation.

"These are not free benefits," she said. "In Nevada we see a significant number of employers who don't offer dependent coverage. We anticipate there would be more of that."

She added that the number of uninsured people in Nevada would increase if mental health benefits were mandated by law.

Hawkins offered no specifics on how expensive policies would become with mandated mental health benefits. Literature given the subcommittee, however, estimated insurance policy costs could increase by 30 percent or more.

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