CALIFORNIA Health Insurance : EasyToInsureME : 9 additional benefit coverages

CALIFORNIA Health Insurance : Legislators are poised to consider adding 9 additional benefit coverage mandates, ranging from mandatory coverage of lactation consultants to drug parity requirements. The state's current list of 48 coverage mandates ranks it near the top in all 50 states. The mandates will cost employers more than $186 million, individuals over $207 million, and CalPERS over $1 million, according to the California Health Benefits Review Program. CHBRP provides independent analyses on the medical, financial, and public health impacts of proposed benefit mandates. CHBRP's analyses of the current mandate bills reveal that the total impact would be $394 million, and a projected 7,600 people would lose coverage due to premium increases. These numbers could make purchasing insurance cost-prohibitive, and Aetna has raised concerns about the cumulative impact of mandates and the roadblocks they create to flexible benefit designs.