Pictured are State Reps. Jodi Salvo, R-Bolivar, (left) and Andrea White, R-Kettering, while providing sponsorship testimony before the Ohio House Insurance Committee on House Bill 724, which would require health benefit plans to provide coverage of an annual behavioral health well check.
Most health insurance plans must cover, at no cost, annual physicals and certain preventative care, and lawmakers want the same for Ohioan’s mental and behavioral health.
State lawmakers discussed bills that have implications for health insurance before the Ohio House Insurance Committee during its latest meeting, including hearing sponsorship testimony on a bill involving annual checkups for behavioral health.
Sponsored by State Reps. Jodi Salvo, R-Bolivar, and Andrea White, R-Kettering, House Bill 724 would require health benefit plans to provide coverage of an annual behavioral health well check, starting Jan. 1, 2027 if approved by the Ohio General Assembly.
“We cannot continue to treat behavioral health as something separate from overall health,” Salvo said in her testimony.
The bill would generally prohibit a health benefit plan from imposing a cost-sharing or prior authorization requirement for a behavioral health well check.
The behavioral health well check would be performed by a licensed behavioral health professional, which ranges from nurse practitioners and physicians to psychologists, counselors, and therapists. The list also includes chemical dependency counselors and social workers.
Reimbursement for annual behavioral health well checks would have to be provided on the same basis and to the same extent for all licensed behavioral health professionals.
State Reps. Jodi Salvo, R-Bolivar, provides sponsorship testimony of House Bill 724, legislation to require health benefit plans to provide coverage for annual behavioral health well checks for children and adults in Ohio, before the Ohio House Insurance Committee.
“These visits would include behavioral health screenings, review of risk and protective factors, education on healthy lifestyle changes, referrals to services when appropriate, and connection to additional supports,” Salvo said.
Many people do not receive meaningful screening or support until they are already in crisis, she said, and this legislation would help normalize seeking support and reduce stigma.
“We know the need is significant,” Salvo said.
When behavioral health concerns go unidentified and untreated, those issues impact more than just the healthcare system, she said.
“We see it in student performance and school attendance, workforce participation and productivity, family stability, parenting stress, crisis system utilization, and long term healthcare costs,” Salvo said.
State Rep. Andrea White, R-Kettering, providing sponsorship testimony before the Ohio House Insurance Committee on House Bill 724, which would require health plans to cover annual behavioral health well checks.
More than 25 interested parties helped shape this legislation as a result of the Mental Health Insurance Working Group that was established in January 2023 through an executive order, White said in her testimony.
The Ohio Department of Insurance led the group, which included employers, insurers, health care providers, and patient advocates working “to develop best practice standards for providing mental health and addiction insurance benefits,” White said.
“We have seen the importance of physical health checks when it comes to preventative care, as well as the cost savings that preventative care does. A yearly mental health wellness check would do the same,” White said.
That was the first committee hearing held for HB 724.
Bill proposes rules around changing contracts between health insurers, health care providers
Later during the committee meeting, lawmakers held the third hearing for a bill that would impose regulations on health care contracts between insurers and healthcare providers.
The proposed regulations would require an written, 90-day notice if certain types of amendments are made to a health care contract, which range from changes in fee schedules and reimbursements for providers to administrative changes and more. This list also includes changes to prior authorization requirements in a health care contract.
The bill includes an objection period for providers. It would also repeal current law permitting either party to terminate the health care contract if there is no resolution to the objection, instead requiring the parties to confer to resolve the objection and prohibiting the material amendment from taking effect unless both parties agree in writing.
The Ohio House Insurance Committee heard opponent testimony on the proposed bill from organizations representing insurers, which said the bill would increase workloads and costs, as well as disrupt provider networks.
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“Requiring individual meetings and written agreement within 30 days of an objection, particularly when objections may involve routine operational updates, would necessitate thousands of separate negotiations for carriers with large networks,” Bianca Balale, director of government relations at the National Association of Dental Plans, said in her testimony. “This approach is operationally unworkable and would significantly increase administrative costs without improving provider transparency or patient outcomes.”
Previous proponent testimony, which included a representative from Premier Health, said the regularly changing policy shifts of insurers creates a constantly moving set of rules for providers.
“Insurers frequently update coverage rules, billing requirements, and payment policies—sometimes monthly, quarterly, or even more often—with no industry-wide standard for how or when those changes are communicated. These updates occur on a regular basis requiring hospitals to continuously monitor and adapt,” Jennifer Ranly, vice president of managed care and reimbursement at Premier Health, said in her testimony in March.