California Bills Would Make Insurers Cover More Mental Health

California Bills Would Make Insurers Cover More Mental Health - (SF Chronicle - Jan 14)

California legislators on Tuesday introduced two bills aimed at improving access to mental health and addiction treatment by requiring health insurance companies to authorize some forms of treatment more quickly and to cover more comprehensive mental health services.

State Sens. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, and Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, co-authored Senate Bill 854 and Senate Bill 855 — which both would apply to private health insurance plans only, and not to public insurance programs such as Medi-Cal, the joint federal and state health insurance program for low-income residents.