S.C. Bill to Require Insurance Coverage for Mental Illnesses

The South Carolina Senate and House have approved legislation requiring health insurers to include coverage for some mental illnesses and it has been passed on to Governor Mark Sanford for his signature.

The legislation doesn’t cover drug or alcohol addiction treatments and would not be required on policies for businesses with 50 or fewer workers. According to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill of South Carolina, the legislation resembles legislation now on the books in 33 states.

If the governor signs the bill, health insurers will have to include coverage for depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.

South Carolina has offered state workers that type of coverage for four years. A law passed in 2000 was aimed at providing a test for how expensive it would be if the Legislature imposed mental health coverage requirements for the private sector, said David Almeida, executive director for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill of South Carolina told the Myrtle Beach Sun-News.

The state’s coverage became a crucial issue for the conference committee of three senators and three representatives. Two votes from each side were needed to approve the bill. While the Senate conferees were all for the bill, Rep. Dan Tripp, R-Mauldin, was against it and pushed an amendment that would have put a limit on benefits.

“I have it,” Rep. Harry Cato, R-Travelers Rest, said of the health insurance plan that covers him as a legislator. The chairman of the House’s insurance oversight committee usually is reluctant to impose mandates on the state’s insurers. But “it’s just hard for me to justify not making sure that my constituents have something that I have,” Cato said.

Tripp found no support from Rep. Bob Leach, R-Greer, either. Leach said the demonstration of the program with the state plan swayed him. “The cost to the health program has only been a half of 1 percent,” Leach said.

Opponents estimated that the legislation could add 1 percent to 5 percent to health insurance costs. And that would prompt employers to drop policies and force more South Carolinians to go uninsured, Tripp said.

That’s why he wanted to impose a cap on the benefits, but it was unclear how that would contain the cost. Others said the state already pays the price for mental illnesses that go untreated.

Without private coverage, the best people can hope for is to find themselves with all their health care provided by state or federal programs, Almeida said. “There’s a wide swath of people that get a mental illness and then join the ranks of the uninsured,” he said.

Many disorders are easily treated with medication. “It’s either treat me now or treat me later,” said Sen. Wes Hayes, R-Rock Hill. “It’s a lot more money down the line.”

Businesses tend to buy insurance based on price and must-have features, such as maternity coverage, Cato said.

Almeida said studies show mental illness causes $150 billion in lost work days.

Cato, who runs a small business, said small premium increases would do less harm to a business than losing an employee because a health insurance plan would not cover a treatable illness.

The potential “lost productivity to me makes up for the difference in the premium,” Cato said. “You want an employee that’s going to be there and if they have an illness, no matter what type of illness it is… they’re going to be taken care of and they’re going to be back to you as quickly as possible or get it under control through medication.”

Topics Legislation South Carolina