00 CS FOR HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 21(HES) 01 Establishing the Alaska Task Force on Parity for Mental Health. 02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 03 WHEREAS persons in Alaska with mental health disorders and their families face 04 disparity in the adequacy, scope, and coverage of private health insurance that they need; and 05 WHEREAS it is estimated that mental health disorders cost the Alaska economy 06 $187,272,000 in 1996 in lost productivity, absenteeism, disability, and early death; and 07 WHEREAS other states that have adopted insurance parity laws for mental disorders 08 have demonstrated that costs of parity have been far less than projected and that savings to 09 the public through decreased costs of Medicaid, Medicare, and other programs have far 10 outweighed the additional costs; and 11 WHEREAS the Alaska Mental Health Board estimates there are over 44,000 children, 12 youth, and adults in the state who experience serious mental illnesses and emotional disorders; 13 and 14 WHEREAS the Congress passed the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 that does 01 address parity for lifetime benefits and annual reimbursement limits for mental health services, 02 but does not address differentiation between mental and physical illnesses with respect to co- 03 payments, deductibles, and benefit design; and 04 WHEREAS 15 other states have established laws addressing mental health parity in 05 insurance practices, and 25 other states introduced bills on the subject in 1997; 06 BE IT RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that the Alaska Task Force on 07 Parity for Mental Health is established for the purpose of studying, after defining the terms 08 "mental disorders," "mental illness," "serious mental illness," and "mental health consumers" 09 for purpose of its work, 10 (1) differential treatment in health insurance coverage between a person with 11 a mental disorder and a person with a physical disorder; 12 (2) costs of mental health coverage in relation to other health care insurance, 13 with special emphasis on parity, and the extent of such coverage, including deductibles and 14 co-payments, disorders and conditions to be covered, and other pertinent issues; 15 (3) ways to define and quantify unmet mental health needs in the state and 16 recommending meaningful ways to measure the efficacy of treatment of mental health needs 17 by analyzing possible outcome data collection measures; 18 (4) the positive and negative effects on mental health consumers if parity for 19 mental health coverage is mandated in Alaska; 20 (5) the feasibility of implementing any recommendations of the task force 21 through legislation; and 22 (6) the effect of the September 30, 2001, sunset date for the Mental Health 23 Parity Act of 1996 on matters set out in (1) - (5) of this clause; and be it 24 FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force shall be composed of 11 members, as 25 follows: 26 (1) two members of the Senate appointed by the President of the Senate; one 27 member shall be a member of the majority, and one member shall be a member of the 28 minority; 29 (2) two members of the House of Representatives appointed by the Speaker 30 of the House of Representatives; one member shall be a member of the majority, and one 31 member shall be a member of the minority; 01 (3) the commissioner of health and social services, or a designee; 02 (4) two members representing the Alaska Mental Health Board appointed by 03 the Alaska Mental Health Board; 04 (5) two members representing the insurance industry appointed by the President 05 of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives; one member may be the 06 director of insurance; and 07 (6) two members representing mental health consumers and community-based 08 mental health providers appointed by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House 09 of Representatives; one member shall be a consumer, and one member shall be a provider; and 10 be it 11 FURTHER RESOLVED that no general fund money shall be expended to support 12 the task force; and be it 13 FURTHER RESOLVED that a simple majority of the members of the task force shall 14 constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, and all actions of the task force shall 15 require the affirmative vote of a majority of the members present; and be it 16 FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force may conduct its work during the 17 legislative session and the interim between sessions, may use the teleconference network, and 18 may conduct public hearings to receive testimony about issues relative to parity for mental 19 health; and be it 20 FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force shall provide to the Speaker of the House 21 of Representatives, the President of the Senate, and the Governor a report of its findings and 22 recommendations on these matters not later than January 1, 1999; and be it 23 FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force is terminated at 11:59 p.m. on 24 February 28, 1999.