States push for insurers to increase coverage

States tackle several health care policy issues focused on health insurance coverage mandates and requirements.

Idaho Reporter explores efforts to mandate that insurers cover prosthetics in the state with the nation's fewest health insurance mandates. "The Idaho Senate is looking at requiring health insurance to cover replacing and repairing prosthetic limbs and devices." Legislation proposed by Rexburg Republican Sen. Brent Hill "would mandate all state-regulated health care plans to cover repairs at the same level that Medicare dictates. That would mean replacing or fixing prosthetics due to physical changes, like a child growing up, or when a doctor says it's medically necessary" (Iverson-Long, 2/10).

Kansas Health Institute: "Insurance lobbyists today testified against a bill that would require health insurers to cover oral chemotherapies the same way they do intravenous chemotherapies. The bill would add to the companies' costs, raise customer premiums, be difficult to administer, and open the door to other mandates, the industry spokesmen said. ... The insurance industry in Kansas has generally opposed any coverage mandates. Earlier this year, Sen. Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, introduced Senate Bill 195 after learning that many insurance policies cover intravenous cancer medications but not those in pill form" (Ranney, 2/10).