WASHINGTON, D.C. (KFGO) – In 1996, Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone began working on a bill to ensure that health insurance companies covered mental health care in the same way that they covered physical health care, but it didn’t become law until 2008 – six years after Wellstone died. Now, Minnesota Senator Tina Smith is working to strengthen the law.
“I sit in the seat that Paul Wellstone held, so this is very important to me. Mental health issues are very important to me for lots of reasons, including I myself have experienced mental health challenges – I experienced depression when I was younger – and it’s just outrageous to me that health insurance companies are refusing to cover this much-needed care,” Smith said.
Smith says the Department of Labor, which is charged with making sure heath insurance plans are complying with the law, doesn’t currently have the ability to levy fines or other penalties against companies that don’t follow the law.
“What my bill would do is to put real teeth in this – and accountability – and give some new tools to enforce this law because people should be getting the health insurance coverage for mental health care that they’re paying for,” Smith said.
A recent government report found that 70% percent of private health insurance plans were breaking the law by excluding coverage for mental health and other conditions like autism, eating disorders, and opioid addiction.
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