HOUSE OK'S SENATE HEALTH AMENDMENT

CONCORD -- Proponents of House Bill 672, which would require health
insurance carriers to provide mental health coverage for alcohol and drug
abuse and for eating disorders and other nervous disorders, won passage of
the measure by agreeing to a Senate amendment that includes state employees.

It was widely thought that the Senate amendment would cause the House to
oppose the bill and tie it up in a conference committee, where it might
have died.

But the House voted 161-165 against a motion to non-concur and then voted
187-140 to agree with the Senate amendment. The bill will now go to the
governor.

Opponents of the bill in both chambers argued that it would increase the
cost of health insurance, particularly for those who pay their own premiums.

Rep. Ralph Rosen, R-Laconia, argued against the bill in general before the
House vote. "Alcohol and drug abuse are willful misconduct, not a disease,"
Rosen said.

The Senate amendment included state and other public employees who were
taken out of the bill originally by the House Finance Committee because
members felt the coverage was a contractual issue where public employees
are involved.

Proponents of the bill in the Senate believed the House might kill the
measure because of the amendment.

"The House clearly wanted this bill," said Commerce Committee Chairman John
Hunt. The committee voted 17-0 to recommend passage.

Rep. Marshall Quandt, R-Exeter, a bill supporter, said that what really
hurts HMOs across the country, and especially in New Hampshire, is that
their chief executive officers make between $13 million and $18 million a year.

"That is more destructive to small states like New Hampshire than spending
50 cents a subscriber to give somebody mental health and health care,"
Quandt said. Quandt said the Legislature takes things issue by issue. He
said last year the Legislature considered prostate cancer and this year
it's mental health.