With health insurance costs rising at three-times the rate of inflation, New Jersey should not require employers to pay for unlimited coverage for treatment of behavioral problems and substance abuse, NJBIA Vice President Christine Stearns said today.

The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee has scheduled the expanded mental health coverage bill, S-807 (Vitale, Buono), for consideration on Monday, November 27.

“The health plans in New Jersey’s regulated market already provide coverage for mental health treatment,” Stearns said.  “The bill would force New Jersey employers to pay for unlimited mental health coverage at a time when skyrocketing premiums have them questioning whether they can even continue to provide health benefits at all!”

“This bill makes a bad situation much worse,” she said.

New Jersey employers already pay some of the highest health insurance costs in the nation.  In 2006, New Jersey employers’ premium costs rose 6.8 percent over 2005 to $8,776 per worker, according to an annual study by consultants Mercer Health & Benefits.  That’s 17 percent higher than the national average of $7,523 per worker.

Adding new mandatory coverages at a time when employers cannot even keep up with current health insurance cost increases is bad public policy.

“This legislation will put additional burdens on many small businesses that are already struggling with skyrocketing costs,” Stearns said.  “Many employers have reached the breaking point.  Imposing this mandate will cost real people all of their health insurance benefits.  Not only will they have no access to treatment for behavioral disorders, but they will lose coverage for hospitalization, prescription drugs, doctor visits, blood tests, and everything else.”

“Should we require unlimited treatments for these conditions even if it means much higher insurance costs that cause thousands of  people to lose all of their health insurance altogether?  Five million people in New Jersey rely on private-sector employers for their health benefits, and they will be impacted by how New Jersey’s lawmakers answer that question.”

Stearns also pointed out that such a mandate would not apply to all insurance plans, only those sold in the State’s regulated market, which insures only about 2.4 million residents.  Almost all small businesses (those with two to 50 employees) that provide health benefits are in the regulated market, so this mandate would be imposed on the small employers who would be least able to afford it.