April 4, 2017

Solutions Recovery Treatment Center’s Chief Executive Officer, David Marlon, testified on behalf of Nevada Senate Bill 262 during the first scheduled hearing on Monday, April 3, 2017.

Nevada Senate Bill 262 is sponsored by Independent Senator Patricia Farley. The bill aims to require insurers to honor the assignment of benefits by the patient and make direct payments to providers for treatment of mental health or addiction treatment, instead of directly to the patients. This bill would follow suit of other states such as Florida that have abolished this practice.

Currently insurers in Nevada are not required to send payments to providers and instead send directly to the patients in a practice called ‘pay-to-patient’. This creates an issue as many patients are recently out of treatment for drug and alcohol addiction and may not have the proper mindset to send the large sum payment to the treatment provider. This creates an easy scenario for relapse and could be life threatening to the client.

“I testified on behalf of clients who have been hurt by insurers failing to honor their assignment of benefits,” said Marlon. “This is a smart fix to the system that will not cost healthcare insurers nor providers any money but will certainly save lives.”