Governor supports diabetes bill, will consider cost-benefit merits of other health insurance mandate

According to a Sept. 12 report in Gongwer News Service, Governor Strickland has endorsed HB 137, which would "direct health insurance companies to provide coverage for equipment, supplies and medication needed to treat diabetes." The article also said that Strickland would consider on a case-by-case basis the cost-benefit merits of other insurance mandate bills. "I would look at mandate issues on a case by case basis to try to determine if they are justified, and quite frankly, whether or not, from a cost standpoint, they are defensible," he said. HB137 is sponsored jointly by Reps. Joyce Beatty (D-Columbus) and Michelle Schneider (R-Cincinnati), is pending in the House Health Committee. A similar proposal (SB 99 ) offered by Sen. Randy Gardner (R-Bowling Green), is before the Senate’s Insurance, Commerce and Labor panel.