House approves bill focused on mental health insurance benefits
Texas House members endorsed a bill Tuesday that would prevent health insurance companies from offering mental health benefits differently from medical benefits and offer more help for consumers who believe their insurance is wrongly denying them coverage.
Rep. Four Price, R-Amarillo, chairman of the House Public Health Committee, and author of House Bill 10, said on the floor that his bill gives the Texas Department of Insurance more power to enforce how health insurance plans offer mental health and substance abuse benefits. He said that insurance companies are offering mental health and substance abuse benefits but that Texans currently have nowhere to turn to in the state when problems arise.
“Folks are paying for coverage, they’re just not able to access adequate treatment,” Price said. The bill, which the House tentatively approved in a 130-12 vote Tuesday, is now eligible for final passage in the House.
Under HB 10, insurance companies offering mental health and substance abuse care benefits would not be allowed to make such coverage different than how medical benefits are covered. Price told members that the bill was not meant to expand insurance coverage for mental health services. In the past, patients who wanted more care or counseling services either had to seek individual approval or pay out of pocket.
Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2017/04/04/house-passes-mental-health-parity-bill/
