How do state legislators justify their actions?
One way is to deny a mandate is a mandate. For example, legislators may claim that requiring health insurance to cover a type of provider such as a chiropractor, podiatrist, midwife or naturopath is not a mandate because they arent requiring a particular therapy. But if insurance is required to cover the provider; it must pay for the service provided. There is no essential difference in requiring insurance to cover a chiropractor (a provider) or chiropractic care (the therapy). Another way they justify their support is to assert the new mandate will cost little or nothing. Indeed, legislators and a mandates supporters usually claim that mandating a new provider or benefit will save money. But with 1,800 mandates in force we have lots of evidence: mandates virtually always cost money rather than save it.
