Monday, September 15, 2003

Experts view Vermont plan as a blueprint for insurance parity laws
Story in the Idaho State Journal - "Opponents told Ken Libertoff the Vermont legislation he helped draft in 1997 would raise insurance premiums by at least 10 percent and force employers to drop insurance plans. Libertoff, director of the Vermont Association for Mental Health, argued the price tag of his proposal, which would cover mandating equal insurance coverage for physical and mental illnesses, wouldn't be nearly as steep as they feared. Vermont passed the bill and now has what mental illness advocates call the nation's best insurance parity law. Vermont's law has been heavily scrutinized, and parts of a national parity bill still pending in the U.S. Senate were patterned after it..."