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Mental Health Coverage: Florida Senate Interim Report on Mental Health Coverage |
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01/03/2008 |
This report is from America's Health Insurance Plans, Christian Jones, AHIP Regional Director
The Florida Senate interim Committee on Banking and Insurance has issued a report with recommendations for mental health coverage. The report gives background information on mental and nervous disorders, current state coverage requirements, as well as federal and state approaches to mental health mandates.
The Committee recommends a mandatory offer by group insurers and HMOs for coverage of mental and nervous disorders on par with coverage for physical and surgical health care benefits. Deductibles, co-payments, annual and lifetime benefits should be similar to medical and surgical benefits offered. The coverage should include biologically-based mental and nervous disorders as defined by the American Psychological Association, including schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Exemptions should be made when plans can show that offering coverage would cause a cost increase over a specified percentage.
The report can be viewed on the Senate's website: www.flsenate.gov/data/Publications/2008/Senate/reports/interim_reports/pdf/2008-103bi.pdf.
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