NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A4285A
SPONSOR: Rivera P (MS) TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the social services law, in relation
to establishing mental health parity for the family health plus program
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: Provides that the benefits provided
in Family Health Plus for the treatment of mental health and substance
abuse disorders be comparable to medical services
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1. Provides that mental health and substance abuse benefits
provided in Family Health Plus shall be comparable to medical benefits
provided as part of the Family Health Plus program.
Section 2. Authorizes the Commissioner to seek any necessary waivers to
implement this chapter.
Section 3. Provides for an effective date of April 1 of the year next
succeeding enactment.
JUSTIFICATION: Timothy's Law (Chapter 748 of the Laws of 2007), one
of 42 state mental health parity laws in the US, took effect January 1,
2007 and applies to most insurance policies in New York on the day they
are issued, renewed, modified, altered, or amended. Before the law
passed, health plans were permitted to discriminate against those with
mental health needs by charging much higher co-payments and deductibles
for inpatient and outpatient mental health care compared with the fees
they charge consumers for regular medical office visits. Top health
plans also recently began to restrict coverage for mental health condi-
tions, exclude coverage for chronic mental illnesses, and impose life-
time limits on inpatient psychiatric care. Timothy's Law remedied many
of these barriers to care. Federal legislation covered Child Health
Plus. The equity and comparability provisions of Timothy's Law do not
presently apply to the Family Health Plus Program. This program already
provides coverage for inpatient and outpatient mental health and alcohol
and substance abuse services.
This legislation simply assures that such coverage is comparable to that
which is provided for other medical conditions under these programs, and
does not place greater restrictions on coverage for mental health condi-
tions or addictions than apply for other needs.
Recent studies confirm the efficacy and cost effectiveness of such
coverage, and, furthermore demonstrate that the costs associated with
the enactment of mental health parity legislation are minimal. Actuari-
al analyses and emerging data from states with parity laws demonstrate
that equitable insurance coverage for mental illnesses is indeed afford-
able, Studies demonstrate that the cost of adopting mental health parity
is negligible - often below one percent. The NYS insurance department
projected costs for Timothy's Law premium subsidies for small employers
to be about one percent for the premium component attributable to the
entire mental health benefit among private insurers and Health Mainte-
nance Organizations in NYS. The comparability required under this legis-
lation would cost a mere fraction of that sum, since (unlike commercial
health plans previously) the Family Health Plus Program already provides
mental health and addiction treatment coverage.
Finally, costs are incurred by individuals, employers, all levels of
government, and society as a whole as a result of untreated mental
illnesses that can also cause or contribute to accidents, job dissatis-
faction, interpersonal conflict, turnover, disability, workers' compen-
sation, involvement with the criminal justice system, disrupted lives
and families, and increased dependency on public resources. By providing
comparable coverage for mental health and substance abuse services for
all children and adults in the Family Health Plus Program, mental
illness and substance abuse can be diagnosed and treated quickly and
thoroughly, thus placing less of a burden on public resources and busi-
nesses.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2007- A. 8617- Tonko - Passed Assembly
2008 - A. 9354 - reported referred to ways and means
2009-2010- A7888 referred to health
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: Minimal
EFFECTIVE DATE: April 1 of the year next succeeding enactment
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4285--A
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 2, 2011
___________
Introduced by M. of A. P. RIVERA, GOTTFRIED, CANESTRARI, CLARK, GUNTHER,
DINOWITZ, WEISENBERG, ENGLEBRIGHT, SCARBOROUGH, JACOBS, McENENY,
COLTON, CAHILL, KAVANAGH, LUPARDO, ABINANTI -- Multi-Sponsored by --
M. of A. ABBATE, ARROYO, AUBRY, BENEDETTO, BOYLAND, BRENNAN,
BROOK-KRASNY, CAMARA, COOK, CYMBROWITZ, DUPREY, GALEF, GLICK, HEVESI,
HIKIND, HOOPER, NOLAN, O'DONNELL, ORTIZ, PAULIN, PEOPLES-STOKES,
PERRY, RAMOS, REILLY, J. RIVERA, N. RIVERA, ROBINSON, ROSENTHAL, SWEE-
NEY, TITUS, WEINSTEIN, WRIGHT -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Health -- recommitted to the Committee on Health in accordance
with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- reported and referred to the Committee
on Ways and Means -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to establishing
mental health parity for the family health plus program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subparagraph (ix) of paragraph (e) of subdivision 1 of
2 section 369-ee of the social services law, as added by chapter 1 of the
3 laws of 1999, is amended to read as follows:
4 (ix) inpatient and outpatient mental health and alcohol and substance
5 abuse services, as defined by the commissioner, provided that coverage
6 for mental health, alcohol and substance abuse services shall be
7 provided on the same terms and conditions as the coverage for other
8 covered health care services;
9 § 2. The commissioner of health is authorized to submit amendments to
10 the state plan for medical assistance and submit one or more applica-
11 tions for waivers of the federal social security act as may be necessary
12 to obtain the federal approvals necessary to implement this chapter.
13 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of April next succeeding
14 the date on which it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00404-03-2
