Senate approves insurance coverage for mental health checkups, other proposals

The Illinois Senate approved several healthcare proposals late last week, including one requiring insurance coverage for annual mental health checkups and wellness visits. [Health News Illinois]

The plan, sponsored by Sen. Laura Fine, D-Glenview, also encourages the Illinois Department of Public Health to work on an educational campaign for mental health and wellness. 

The health insurance coverage provision would take effect in 2025.

“Normalizing annual mental health checkups will give people who may not have considered seeking support the strength to do so,” Fine said in a statement after the plan passed the chamber unanimously.

The Senate also approved a bill from Sen. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago, that prohibits other states from using automatic license plate reader data gathered in Illinois to prosecute people seeking reproductive healthcare in the state or to detain people based on their immigration status.

“Illinois is one of the most health-accessible and welcoming states in the nation, so we need to make sure that residents and visitors alike are protected and their personal medical decisions are kept private,” Feigenholtz said.

It also approved a measure by Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, that requires the Illinois State Board of Education to create an index to measure community childhood trauma exposure among children between the ages of 3 and 18.

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