Insurers face a push for new benefits

The Boston Globe reports:

Massachusetts legislators this year have filed a flurry of bills - more than 70 in all - that, if passed, would substantially expand the medical services insurers are required to cover for patients but also potentially raise healthcare costs.

The cascade of proposals to mandate coverage is up 50 percent from last year, and comes amid unprecedented scrutiny of healthcare spending.

One proposal before the Legislature would require health insurers to cover the full cost of hearing aids for children. Another would require them to pay for treatments to fix cleft palates. Still another would mandate payment for wigs after hair loss from cancer and other illnesses.

Precisely what is driving the recent spike in proposed mandates is unclear. But some legislators and insurers believe that patient advocates are racing to get their health concerns covered by law before the state’s system for paying doctors and hospitals is overhauled. A commission recommended earlier this month that the state dramatically change how providers are paid, and legislators plan to hold hearings on the issue in September.

The move to destroy contracts and private health insurance. It's time to separate medicine from state.