States with mental health parity laws

The following map depicts state mental health parity laws and mandates in the United States. For more information on mental health parity laws and mandates, see the page on Mental health parity laws and their impact on insurance benefits.

Alaska: Signed into law 04/2014 Summary: “Among many other things,” bill modified state insurance law to require health plans to now “comply with the mental health or substance use disorder benefit requirements established” by the Federal Parity Law.
Arkansas: Signed into law 04/2009 Among key provisions: Changes behavioral health services coverage from required to optional for large employer fully-insured plans; requires plans to disclose to patients the medical necessity criteria for behavioral health treatment and reasons for coverage denials; allows plans to use non-quantitative treatment limitations (e.g., prior authorization, utilization management) for behavioral health treatment even if they do not do so for other medical treatment; requires plans to cover out-of-network coverage for behavioral health services if they do so for other medical services.
California: Signed into law 09/2012 Summary: Mandates that individual and small group plans comply with the Federal Parity Law and defines the required essential benefits, including behavioral health services coverage
Signed into law 09/2013 Summary: Prohibits insurance companies from creating a separate out-of-pocket maximum for behavioral health coverage; and prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage due to prior existing behavioral health conditions.

Signed into law 06/2014: Summary: Added a new section to the Health and Safety Code requiring large group plans, small group plans, and plans offered on the individual market to offer behavioral health benefits that comply with the Federal Parity Law.
Colorado: Signed into law 05/2013 Summary: Changed mental health parity sections of state insurance law to (among other things) add anorexia and bulimia to listed conditions, require small employer fully-insured plans to cover all listed conditions, removes language that had allowed health plans to use utilization review for behavioral health services even if they did not use it for other medical services, and applies the section about court-ordered mental health treatment coverage to include bulimia and anorexia (and other behavioral conditions)
Connecticut: Signed into law 07/2011 Summary: changed state insurance law, now making it an unfair business practice for insurance plans to refuse to cover people because they have a behavioral health condition.
Hawaii: Signed into law 07/2014. Summary: Amended state parity law to eliminate annual limits on behavioral health for inpatient care, partial hospitalization, and outpatient care
Minnesota: Signed into law May 2013 Summary: Changed state insurance law to require health plans to meet requirements of federal parity law and any associated regulations related to federal parity law.
Missouri: Signed into law June 2015 Summary: Changed state insurance law to require insurance plans to expand coverage of eating disorder treatment as follows: requires insurance plans to cover all medically necessary treatment (listed and defined as medical care, psychiatric care, psychological care, nutritional care, therapy, pharmacy care ); defines and specifies in the treatment definitions that inpatient care, partial hospitalization, residential care, intensive outpatient care, and outpatient care are included; defines eating disorders as anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, pica, rumination disorder, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, other specified feeding eating disorder, or “any other eating disorders” in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM); forbids insurance plans from making medical necessity determinations based only on the patient’s weight; and requires insurance plans to follow the American Psychiatric Association’s Practice Guidelines for the Treatment of Patients with Eating Disorders when making medical necessity determinations
Montana: Signed into law May 2017 Summary: Changes state insurance law to specify that individual plans, small-group plans, and large-group plans should provide coverage for mental health conditions and substance use disorders in a way that is “no less favorable” than coverage for other medical conditions
Nevada: Signed into law June 2013 Summary: Removed several parts of parity sections of state insurance law that were more restrictive on behavioral health coverage than federal parity law.
Pennsylvania Signed into law 03/2010 Summary: Requires health plans to comply with federal parity law and establishes penalties for violations.
Utah: Signed into law 01/2014 Summary: Changed the parity section of state insurance law to require individual plans and small employer fully-insured plans to cover behavioral health services and comply with the federal parity law.
Signed into law 03/2010 Summary: changed parity section of the state insurance law to require large employer fully insured plans to comply with the Federal Parity Law, if the plans covers behavioral health services.
Wyoming No parity law/sections of state insurance law.