03/09/2007
Ohio mental-health-parity law covers all companies
At the end of this month, small-business owners in Ohio will be hit in the pocketbook again as they are forced to provide mental-health coverage in addition to any other health-care insurance they offer employees, due to a bill signed by Gov. Taft at the end of last year.
The Ohio law, which goes into effect March 30, mandates group health-care policies, contracts and agreements provide for the diagnosis, care and treatment of biologically based mental illnesses. While many other states with existing mental-health parity laws offer small-business exemptions, Ohio's law will not, leaving hundreds of small-business owners across the state to figure out how they will afford to continue to provide their employees with health benefits. And since the premium-increase limitation was based on an insurance company standard, small businesses could see dramatic cost increases, where big businesses are likely to see little change.
Ohio isn't the only state dealing with the mental-health parity issue lately, as both NFIB/Michigan and NFIB/Arizona have placed the issue on their 2007 legislative agendas. NFIB offices in both states are asking members to tell their lawmakers to reject legislation that would force small-business owners to provide coverage they cannot afford--especially when big business is allowed to ignore the mandates under federal ERISA law.
In Arizona, bills have been introduced in both the House and the Senate requiring any employer who chooses to provide mental-health benefits to employees in their health-insurance plan to ensure the mental-health benefits are equal to the regular medical benefits of the plan. NFIB/Arizona members are encouraged to contact their lawmakers and explain to them why consumer choice in purchasing benefits is important to small-business owners--and to the survival of their businesses.
Almost three-fourths of the states have some sort of mental-health parity law in place, and though many have provisions that exempt some or all small businesses, the fact that states can--and do--force employers to offer benefits on top of what they are already struggling to provide is a threat. NFIB continues to fight in the statehouses against mental-health parity--and all state health-care mandates.
NFIB members in Michigan and Arizona: Contact your lawmakers and tell them your personal health-insurance affordability story. Explain to them that you are doing your best to offer health benefits to your employees, but forcing you to offer more will only hurt your ability to continue to take care of your employees.
