<nobr>Jun 14, 2007</nobr>

ERIC Supports Mental Health Coverage, But Opposed to Amending ERISA and New Mandates

Washington, D.C. -- ERIC's Vice President for Health Policy Edwina Rogers will appear tomorrow at a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health to testify on The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act (H.R. 1424). While ERIC members are in favor of expanding mental health parity coverage and access, Rogers will argue against the approach taken in H.R. 1424, saying that the bill is "fundamentally flawed."

ERIC strongly encourages Congress and the States to recognize the importance of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the role played by its preemption clause in ensuring the ability of employers to maintain affordable, uniform coverage for American workers and their families. The uniformity across state lines ensured by ERISA preemption helps control costs for tens of millions of Americans, and ERIC believes it is critical that efforts to address mental health parity preserve the ERISA preemption clause.

An increasing number of states, urged on by special interest groups, are attempting to subvert ERISA's national uniformity provisions law by mandating employers specific health care benefits as well as the scope and form of those benefits to their employees. Major employers operate in multiple states and their employees have common needs that are often not shared with arbitrarily drawn regions, states, or localities. Congress developed ERISA so that major employers could create uniform national plans that fit the needs of their employees, regardless of where the employees lived, worked, or received healthcare.

"Rather than leaving plan sponsors at the mercy of various state laws, Congress could choose to pass a mental health parity law that preempts conflicting state laws, giving employers clear guidance on how to be compliant on a national level," says Rogers. "Instead, by allowing states to craft their own laws, and not including preemption language, the Kennedy-Ramstad bill would further disincentivize plan sponsors from offering any mental health coverage at all," Rogers added.

Rogers will conclude in her testimony that "If Congress wants to increase mental health and substance abuse coverage, it should address transparency, accountability, and affordability and education issues, rather than creating a new mandate."

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For more information:
Ted Godbout
Manager, Communications
The ERISA Industry Committee
1400 L Street, NW, Suite 350
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 789-1400; Fax (202) 789-1120
tgodbout@eric.org
www.eric.org

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