Now, members of Congress appear ready to build on that record. House and Senate bills have been introduced, for example, to provide uniform coverage for osteoporosis testing. The disease contributes to 1.5 million fractures annually. Experts estimate that without bone-density tests, up to 40 percent of women with low bone mass could be missed and left untreated, lawmakers said. Several plans refuse to provide consumers information indicating when the plan covers the test and when it does not.
Some plans cover the test only for people who already have osteoporosis.
There are a lot of families facing issues of fertility, where they want to have children, and they find that their health insurance plans do not cover treatments or diagnoses. . . . It only makes sense to open it up to people who have worked hard their entire lives and are often in critical need of health care. The Office of Personnel Management, however, says the added benefits have not been a major reason premiums have soared. The expansion of mental health and substance-abuse coverage, for example, accounted for only 1.3 percentage points in this year's 10.5 percent average premium increase, OPM estimates. By contrast, prescription drug costs contributed 4 percentage points, and higher medical technology costs accounted for 3.4 percentage points.