The cutest legislator ever (Hi Patrick..giggle) has introduced a bill requiring insurance companies to cover 60 inpatient days with no lifetime limit for eating disorder treatments.
We can't complain about our premiums going up if the legislature keeps requiring insurance companies to cover so much shit. Texas is already one of the most difficult states to do business in for health care companies. That's why so many pull out of the state, go bankrupt, or lay us off (oops, we said too much).
These benefits are already covered under the required mental health coverage required by the state, and when medically necessary they are covered as well. (Edited to Add: We are talking about GROUP Coverage, not individual coverage. Individual coverage does not cover SMI or IMH or OMH by law) Read the extended entry for more:
We don't want to sound all Republican and shit, but eh...non-plussed.
We think eating disorders are sad. But jeesh, a diet of cocaine and tic tacs worked for us for years, darling! You can never be too rich or too thin!
(We swear Paris Hilton did not write this entry)
*Heathers, starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater
Whiny! Love that. Actually, HMOs and Insurance companies are not these HUGE profitable machines. Most run at about 87% MLR. That means Medical Loss Ratio. That further means that 87% of all revenue generated goes to pay medical claims. That gives them 13% in gross profit.
As these required benefits eek into that 13%, costs are going to go up, coverage is going to go down on what's not required. Meanwhile, visit our post on prescription drugs spending billions so we go into our doctor's office and beg for the drug with best ad we saw on TV!
The insurance industry is always whining about mandated benefits increasing the cost of coverage, but they are not a big cost driver. The Texas Department of Insurance surveys health insurance companies every year about mandated benefits and here's the verdict:
"Insurer claims for 16 mandated benefits represented 4.48 percent of all claims paid. Each of the mandated benefits represented less than one percent of total claims paid, and 13 of the benefits represented less than one half of one percent of all claims paid. The two most expensive mandated benefits were diabetes supplies and training (0.80 percent of all claims), and serious mental illness (0.74 percent of claims)." - http://www.tdi.state.tx.us/general/PDF/spgIntBody.pdf (top of page 7).
I'm not saying the bill is a good idea, I just don't know why you are still selling the insurance industry's rhetoric. We have far more health insurance companies doing business in this state than most. and mandated benefits aren't what is making health insurance expensive.
and in my opinion, you don't sound all republican, as you wrote. you sound just like the whiney but profitable insurance industry, which has its democratic lap dogs as well (eiland for one). but you didn't sound like the industry when you slammed credit scoring a week or so ago. Chris Bell should not be the only one questioning insurance companies and their lame excuses.
btw, an 87% MLR is nothing to scoff at; it adds up to billions in profits annually. Your devotion to your old employer is adorable, but no one should buy your arguments.