February 7th, 2020 – Colorado’s House Bill 1086 will require Colorado state regulated health insurance plans to cover an annual mental health check up in the same way they do a primary care exam.
Currently, preventative care visits to a primary care doctor can include screening for depression and anxiety, but those services are not provided by mental health care professionals.
The idea is that the new insurance benefit would cover an initial visit of up to 60 minutes in length and hopefully would help people address mental health concerns before they grow and cause larger problems.
Nationally, 5 percent of adult Americans experience a mental illness in any given year and 46.4 percent of US adults experience a mental illness during their lifetime.
While there are concerns about the additional coverage driving up health insurance premiums, no one spoke against the bill in a hearing last week.
