Does the CA Mandate Go Far Enough?

California Healthline reports on a critique of the new California mandate:

A new law (SB 946) requiring insurers to cover an autism treatment called applied behavioral analysis is "inequitable, as it exempts large numbers of Californians from coverage," Henry Loubet -- chief strategy officer for Keenan & Associates and a Payers & Providers editorial board member -- writes in a Payers & Providers opinion piece. According to Loubet, the law "exempts from coverage plans provided to the approximately 1.3 [million] enrollees in the enormous California Public Employees Retirement System" because it "imposes an additional annual cost of about $850 million on private health plans [but] allows CalPERS to simply ignore the issue entirely." Loubet concludes, "I strongly urge the Legislature to revisit this imbalance in SB 946 and correct a law that not only impacts private industry but also the families and children of public employees."

• "The Autism Treatment Law Is Flawed" (Payers & Providers, 11/3).