Under a new bill proposed Wednesday, small businesses would be required to offer coverage for mental health and substance abuse treatments in group health plans equal to other medical and surgical coverage.

Sen. Dave Hansen, D-Green Bay, and Rep. Sandy Pasch, D-Whitefish Bay, unveiled their proposal at a Capitol press conference with the New Day Coalition, a state health care advocacy group representing over 2 million citizens.

Pasch, a psychiatric nurse, said the purpose of the bill is to increase access to mental health care because it is a very real, treatable disease.

“It’s 2009. We have great knowledge and information about mental illness, and it is not a ‘character flaw,’ it’s an actual affliction of the brain,” Pasch said.

Pasch also said over the past 30 years, the state has sent costs to prisons and other institutions because there is not enough proper treatment provided. She said the state has to be smart and realize it is more cost-effective to employ more treatment options.

According to Pasch, this bill will close the gap left by the federal Wellstone-Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act passed last year by requiring businesses that employ fewer than 50 people to offer mental health coverage.

“This is coming at a good time to make sure people have access to treatment,” Pasch said. “Looking at the recently-passed OWI bill in the Assembly, lots of commentary was, ‘Yeah, there’s increased punishment, but what about treatment?'”

Pasch also said the bill will not come before the Assembly until spring, but she is confident it will pass because previous motions like this have had bipartisan support.

“Mental illness affects Democrats, Republicans, Independents and those without political affiliations,” Pasch said.

Pasch added it is foolish to say the proposal will drive up costs when there are a number of effective solutions which are morally and fiscally responsible.

Hansen said this bill is very necessary because early intervention for mental illnesses is cheaper in the long run.

“The whole idea is that people get the health care they need to prevent suicide, drunken driving … and work days lost because an employee is suffering a mental illness,” Hansen said.

Hansen said because mental illness is a physical disorder, it should be treated equally. Without this measure, he said, 700,000 small business employees would not be offered any protection.

Since 1985, Hansen said the minimum mental health coverage has been capped at $7,000 for inpatient care and $2,000 for outpatient. He added there are many examples nationwide that illustrate the benefits of parity.

Rep. Robin Vos, R-Racine, a member of the Assembly Committee on Insurance, said this proposal is a nice idea, but it will increase costs for small businesses that are already facing a tough economic climate.

“It’s another example of people who have never run a small business with a plan that will increase costs,” Vos said. “If it’s such a good program, why doesn’t the state pay for it? But we will never do that because it is too expensive.”