Bills target mental health coverage
10:56 PM 3/02/04
Phil Brinkman Wisconsin State Journal

Molly Cisco no longer spends her days holed up on her couch chain-smoking cigarettes and thinking of suicide. <

"I think you have to live through it to understand what it's like to wake up every day and have your full-time job be staying alive," said Cisco, 46, who has attempted suicide four times since she was 12, the last time eight years ago. "It's a full-time job just to keep from killing yourself." <

Now the head of a mental health advocacy and support group, the Grassroots Empowerment Project, Cisco, of Lake Mills, is getting the upper hand on her bipolar disorder. <

But it took the intervention of medical doctors, psychiatrists, several hospital stays - and a continuing regimen of costly medication - to get her life back. Even with insurance, however, she's "one hospitalization away from bankruptcy." <

Advocates say Cisco's case illustrates the problem with the state's approach to mental health insurance coverage, which requires group health insurers to cover just $7,000 in mental health costs. <

On Tuesday, the state Senate adopted one of a pair of mental health "parity" bills meant to bring such coverage more in line with that for physical ailments. The bill, SB 71, which passed 29-4, exempts the cost of prescription drugs and diagnostic testing from the cap. <

But supporters were disappointed that neither house of the Legislature has yet taken up what they consider the more urgent measure, SB 72. That bill would lift the cap from $7,000 a year to $16,800 to reflect a cost of living increase since 1985, when the state first mandated health insurance plans cover mental health care. <

"There's no other illness where insurers think $7,000 will take care of the treatment," said Catherine Beilman of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. <

If she defaults on her health care payments, Cisco said, the costs would be passed on to others in the form of higher premiums, and she likely would end up on Medicaid. That program has a $310 million projected deficit through next year. <

"We can't be so narrow-minded to think that not providing mental health care is going to save dollars," Cisco said. <

Beilman said a Dane County mother recently committed suicide after her insurance payments for mental health care ran out, leaving three young children. <

Senate Majority Leader Mary Panzer, R-West Bend, said the bill would "clearly pass" her house but said she is still negotiating with the Republican leadership of the Assembly on a final round of legislation this session, including the parity bill. <

"The last three sessions, the Senate has passed mental health parity," Panzer said. "We can pass it through the Senate again and have it die. I would like a bill passed that's signed into law." <

Insurers and business groups oppose the bill because it would drive up premiums. The Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner estimated the increase at 32 cents to $1.25 per month per enrollee. <

"I think I read somewhere that health insurance costs are high in this state," said Rep. Glenn Grothman, a Republican also from West Bend. "Why ... would we pass that?" <

Assembly Speaker John Gard, R-Peshtigo, didn't respond to a request for comment Tuesday. <

Contact Phil Brinkman at pbrinkman@madison.com or 252-6145.