Massachusetts would become the second state in the nation to require health insurers to cover annual mental health examinations under a bill Senate leaders hope will reform how mental health services are provided and paid for in Massachusetts.
"We really, really have a responsibility in this moment to ensure that every resident of the Commonwealth has equitable access to mental health care, no matter who they are, no matter where they live," Senate President Karen Spilka told reporters Tuesday. The Ashland Democrat said the COVID-19 pandemic exposed serious cracks in the state's mental health care system.
"Mental health and behavioral health has become so acute with the COVID-19 pandemic," Spilka said. "Everybody is concerned practically about the lack of, and the fragmentation of, the mental health services currently."
Spilka's plan is an updated version of one passed by her chamber last year but ignored by the House of Representatives. She said the new bill would bring nearly 2,000 new clinicians to the state.
"So that we can provide the care that's needed. That is a significant, significant difference and will make a significant impact in the field of mental and behavioral health," she said.
The bill would require health care providers to staff more mental health clinicians, restrict insurer denials for emergency mental health care claims and create a communications portal for providers to access information about available mental health beds to help cut down on long waits for services in hospital emergency departments.
Spilka told GBH News in September that she had instructed Sens. Cindy Friedman and Julian Cyr to update the mental health bill the Senate passed last year to reflect new understandings of the state's need brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"For far too long, mental health has been a forgotten component of our health care system, resulting in a fractured system that has continually left too many without the critical care they need. And this broken system has only continued to fracture during the COVID-19 pandemic," Friedman said.
Lawmakers have so far been unwilling to entertain Baker's specific preferred proposals when it comes to mental and behavioral health. Baker's plan, filed again in September, would force insurers and providers to increase spending on behavioral and primary care by 30% over three years and would also penalize drugmakers that raise the price of prescription drugs over 2%.
The House has not yet weighed in on its appetite for mental health reforms beyond allowing last year's version of the Senate's bill to die without a vote.
The Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, an industry group that represents the state's health care providers, isn't dismissing the Senate's plan and said in a statement that providers want to work in partnership with lawmakers to improve mental health access.
"Boosting the behavioral health workforce, evolving coverage for services, and reducing administrative burdens are all crucial steps that can be taken to help our healthcare organizations build a system that works for every patient in need," MHA senior director of healthcare policy Leigh Simons Youmans wrote in a statement.
Insurers are at least partially on board as well. Lora Pellegrini, president of the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans, wrote in a statement that insurance companies support the bill's provisions that would provide coverage of an annual mental health wellness exam.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing mental health issues for many residents of the Commonwealth, and so it is important to focus on prevention and screening to ensure that behavioral health needs are not overlooked," Pellegrini wrote.
