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Bills That Would Undermine Consumer Rights Progress
in Congress
The House of Representatives passed legislation that would undermine
consumer insurance protections. The bill, the
Association Health Plans/Small Business Fairness Act (H.R. 525), would
allow small businesses to form association health
plans that would only be subject to federal regulations. These plans
would be exempt from state laws and regulations,
including those that guarantee parity. Research indicates that such
association plans will eventually require that small
businesses pay more for health insurance than they are paying now.
Although another bill, the Health Care Choice Act, is
still being considered in the House, if passed, it could prove to
be as
damaging as H.R. 525. The Health Care Choice Act, H.R. 2355, would
allow insurance companies that offer plans to individuals
to only need to meet the legal requirements for insurance in the state
that the company is located. This would be true
regardless of where their plan members’ live. Such a law would
allow insurance companies to “race to the bottom” in locating
to states with the fewest insurance regulations so that they can offer
the least benefits.
Congress Set to Act on Medicaid Cuts After Recess
When members of Congress return from their month-long recess in September,
one of the main issues that they will be
considering proposals to severely cut funding to Medicaid, which plays
a key role in funding mental health services throughout
the nation. Among these proposals are those made by the National Governors’ Association
(NGA) that would limit Medicaid
beneficiaries’ access to mental health services, including dramatically
increasing cost-sharing requirements, such as copayments
and deductibles. The NGA also proposes to limit the benefits Medicaid
offers, restrict federal oversight of the Medicaid
program to allow states some room to experiment with cost-saving measures,
and restrict beneficiaries’ ability to seek redress
of service denials in court.
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