Bill Text: NY A00021 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires insurance policies to provide coverage for services related to the diagnosis and treatment of mental, nervous or emotional disorders or ailments; makes related provisions.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to insurance [A00021 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A00021-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                           21

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                       (Prefiled)

                                     January 4, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. MAGNARELLI, JONES, COOK, COLTON, SIMON, BARRETT,
          DE LOS SANTOS -- read once and referred to the Committee on Insurance

        AN ACT to amend the insurance law, in relation to coverage for  children
          for services related to the diagnosis and treatment of mental, nervous
          or emotional disorders or ailments

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Subsection (i) of section 3216  of  the  insurance  law  is
     2  amended by adding a new paragraph 37 to read as follows:
     3    (37)  (A) Every policy that provides medical, major medical or similar
     4  comprehensive-type coverage, shall provide  coverage  for  children  for
     5  services  related  to  the diagnosis and treatment of mental, nervous or
     6  emotional disorders or ailments, including but not limited  to  biologi-
     7  cally based mental illnesses as defined by subparagraph (B) of paragraph
     8  five  of subsection (l) of section three thousand two hundred twenty-one
     9  of this article and children  with  serious  emotional  disturbances  as
    10  defined  by  subparagraph  (C)  of  paragraph  five of subsection (l) of
    11  section three thousand two hundred twenty-one  of  this  article,  in  a
    12  psychiatric center under the jurisdiction of the office of mental health
    13  or  other  psychiatric  in-patient  facility  in  the  department, and a
    14  psychiatric in-patient facility maintained by a political subdivision of
    15  the state for the care  or  treatment  of  the  mentally  ill.  Coverage
    16  required  under  this  paragraph  must  be  at  least  equal to coverage
    17  provided in such policy for the diagnosis and treatment of mental, nerv-
    18  ous or emotional disorders or ailments with no additional cost sharing.
    19    (B) For the purposes of this paragraph, the term "children" shall mean
    20  any person under the age of eighteen years.
    21    § 2. Subsection (l) of section 3221 of the insurance law is amended by
    22  adding a new paragraph 5-a to read as follows:

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00248-01-3
        A. 21                               2

     1    (5-a) (A) Every policy that provides medical, major medical or similar
     2  comprehensive-type coverage, shall provide  coverage  for  children  for
     3  services  related  to  the diagnosis and treatment of mental, nervous or
     4  emotional disorders or ailments, including but not limited  to  biologi-
     5  cally based mental illnesses as defined by subparagraph (B) of paragraph
     6  five of this subsection and children with serious emotional disturbances
     7  as  defined by subparagraph (C) of paragraph five of this subsection, in
     8  a psychiatric center under the jurisdiction  of  the  office  of  mental
     9  health or other psychiatric in-patient facility in the department, and a
    10  psychiatric in-patient facility maintained by a political subdivision of
    11  the  state  for  the  care  or  treatment  of the mentally ill. Coverage
    12  required under this  paragraph  must  be  at  least  equal  to  coverage
    13  provided in such policy for the diagnosis and treatment of mental, nerv-
    14  ous or emotional disorders or ailments with no additional cost sharing.
    15    (B) For the purposes of this paragraph, the term "children" shall mean
    16  any person under the age of eighteen years.
    17    §  3.  Section  4303  of  the insurance law is amended by adding a new
    18  subsection (g-1) to read as follows:
    19    (g-1) (1) Every contract that provides medical, major medical or simi-
    20  lar comprehensive-type coverage, shall provide coverage for children for
    21  services related to the diagnosis and treatment of  mental,  nervous  or
    22  emotional  disorders  or ailments, including but not limited to biologi-
    23  cally based mental illnesses as defined by subparagraph (B) of paragraph
    24  two of  subsection  (g)  of  this  section  and  children  with  serious
    25  emotional  disturbances  as defined by paragraph three of subsection (g)
    26  of this section, in a psychiatric center under the jurisdiction  of  the
    27  office  of mental health or other psychiatric in-patient facility in the
    28  department, and a psychiatric in-patient facility maintained by a  poli-
    29  tical subdivision of the state for the care or treatment of the mentally
    30  ill.  Coverage  required  under this paragraph must be at least equal to
    31  coverage provided in such policy for  the  diagnosis  and  treatment  of
    32  mental,  nervous  or  emotional disorders or ailments with no additional
    33  cost sharing.
    34    (2) For the purposes of this subsection,  the  term  "children"  shall
    35  mean any person under the age of eighteen years.
    36    §  4.  This  act  shall take effect immediately and shall apply to any
    37  policy issued, delivered, renewed,  and/or  modified  on  or  after  the
    38  effective date of this act.