BILL NUMBER:  S5161

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the public health law and the social
services law, in relation to establishing mental health parity in
public health insurance plans

 PURPOSE :  Provides that the benefits provided in Family Health Plus
and Child Health Plus for the treatment of mental health and substance
abuse disorders be comparable to medical services.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS ; Section 1. Provides that mental health and
substance abuse benefits provided in Child Health Plus shall be
comparable to medical benefits provided as part of the Child Health
Plus program.

Section 2. 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 3. Authorizes the Commissioner to seek any necessary waivers
to implement this chapter.

Section 4. 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 the 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 conditions, 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.

The equity and comparability provisions of Timothy's Law do not
presently apply to the Child Health Insurance Plan or Family Health
Plus Program. Each of those programs 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 conditions or addictions than apply for other needs.
Recent studies confirm the efficacy and cast effectiveness of such
coverage, and, furthermore demonstrate that the costs associated with
the enactment of mental health parity legislation are minimal. Actual
analyses and emerging data from states with parity laws demonstrate
that equitable insurance coverage for mental illnesses is indeed
affordable.

Studies demonstrate that the cost of adopting mental health parity is
negligible -often below one per cent. 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 Maintenance Organizations in NYS. The
comparability required under this legislation would cost a mere
fraction of that sum, since (unlike commercial health plans
previously) the Child Health Insurance Plan and Family Health Plus
Program already provide mental health and addiction treatment
coverage. Further, the cost to the taxpayer will be reduced, since
most who lose benefits on Child Health Plus will be forced onto
Medicaid. While the state receives 65% reimbursement for Child Health
Plus, Medicaid is only reimbursed at 50%.

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
dissatisfaction, interpersonal conflict, turnover, disability,
workers' compensation, 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 Child
Health Insurance Plan and 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
businesses.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :  2008 S.5929/Referred to Health
2007 S.5929/Referred to Rules

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS : Minimal.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :  April 1st of the year next succeeding enactment.