Bill would make employers treat mental illness like physical illness

A bill to make Iowa employers treat mental illness the same as physical illness has gotten a reprieve this week. A bill that gives businesses that provide insurance coverage for mental illness a tax credit could make the bill more palatable, and Senate President Mary Kramer says it’ll help small businesses that, fearing the cost of covering costly illness, might drop all their health insurance instead.The credit would only apply to businesses that have 50 or fewer workers, and the coverage would apply to chemical- and biological-based disorders like schizophrenia, autism and anxiety disorders.Kramer doesn’t know if there’s enough support to pass the bill, even with the tax credit. And she admits if every small business in Iowa took advantage of the credit, it could cost the treasury as much as seven million dollars.