Mandates are bad for your health

Among the side benefits of term limits is that the, shall we say, "unfortunate" ideas of otherwise exemplary legislators exit with the lawmakers themselves.

We were reminded of this late in last week's long slog through the presentation of Pasco County's chief concerns for the approaching state legislative session. And though it surely was not Eric Crall's intention to remind us, he did so nonetheless.

Crall, a tidy, well-spoken physician who heads a family practice in Trinity, presented Pasco's legislative delegation with an irresistible proposal: In the interest of expanding the number of Floridians who might take advantage of a test for heart disease that is brief, painless, noninvasive and comparatively inexpensive, Tallahassee should require health insurance companies to cover it.

We are virtually positive Crall's heart is in the right place, and that his interest is in screening Floridians who, despite their inclusion in the low-risk pool, annually comprise two-thirds of the population who suffer a major cardiac event.

If the slow bludgeoning of ObamaCare to (presumed) death has taught us anything, however, it is to be skeptical of lawmakers brandishing health care mandates. Requiring coverage of carotid intima-media thickness screenings falls roughly into the same category of Senate Democrats' radical plan to force legal U.S. residents to buy "approved" health insurance policies. The difference is one of degree only.

This steers us to a pair of Republican legislators, Rep. Ed Homan and Sen. Victor Crist, who will, for the fourth and final time this spring, sponsor companion bills that would force insurers to cover mental health treatment at the same level as other health services. Current state law mandates minimum requirements; the term-limited Homan and Crist, soon to begin their final Tallahassee adventure, seek to mandate parity.

Do not misunderstand. This Space is second to none in its respect for the work done by qualified mental health professionals. Employees should be allowed to select levels of mental health coverage above the state minimums during each open enrollment period.

But if we have come to learn anything from the months of angst meted out by Congress' attempt to remake America's health care industry, it is that top-down mandates are expensive, coercive and anti-competitive.

The Legislature should remain uber-wary of placing additional burdens on Florida's businesses, lest the light at the end of the hiring tunnel turn out to be the proverbial high-speed train.