mandates

Orr: Reduce insurance mandates

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:36:30 -0500

Bob Orr wants to cut back on health insurance mandates.

On his Web site, the Republican gubernatorial candidate says North Carolina needs to reduce "excessive coverage mandates" to allow the market to work:

North Carolina has 46 coverage mandates (government dictated policy benefits) resulting in 41% higher premiums and preventing you from choosing a basic plan. We must reduce coverage mandates so that you can choose a basic plan that meets your health needs and does not include benefits that you do not need, like for example, coverage for a chiropractor.

As noted previously, North Carolina has 25 benefit mandates.

The state also requires coverage of 17 types of providers, including chiropractors, pastoral counselors and social workers; and six groups, including adopted children, handicapped dependents and newborns.

Orr later had a back-and-forth with health care advocate Adam Searing on The Progressive Pulse blog.

He recently noted on his campaign blog, More from Orr, that the discussion made him "go back and research the issue further."

North Carolina's insurance mandates

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:09:04 -0500

North Carolina has 24 health insurance benefit mandates.

According to the Council for Affordable Health Insurance, an insurance industry group that generally advocates against increased mandates, North Carolina has the 18th most mandates in the United States.

Idaho has the fewest mandates, with seven; while Maryland has the most, at 39. The median was 21 mandates, which Kentucky and Tennessee have.

Among the most common benefits in North Carolina's mandates: Mammograms, maternity stays, breast reconstruction, alcoholism, diabetes supplies and emergency services.

Among the least common: Birthing centers, cleft palate, bone mass measurement, human papilloma virus vaccine, newborn hearing screenings and TMJ disorders.

North Carolina also requires insurers cover clinical trials, mastectomies, hospital stays after a mastectomy, colorectal cancer screening, cervical cancer screening and contraceptives, among other things.

Although it's not yet listed, the General Assembly recently added a 25th benefit mandate: mental health parity.