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Senate subcommittee backs substitute to strengthen mental-health parity enforcement
Summary
A Senate subcommittee recommended reporting a substitute to SB 524 that would require health plans to submit comparative parity analyses to the Bureau of Insurance, give the bureau enforcement authority and penalties, update service definitions, and permit implementing regulations; providers urged action while insurers cited a pending federal enforcement stay.
The Senate subcommittee on Education and Health recommended reporting a substitute to SB 524 on mental-health parity after hearing hours of testimony from providers and insurers.
The substitute would require health plans to submit comparative analyses — including data on denied claims, prior authorizations, complaints and appeals — to the Bureau of Insurance, which could seek supplementary information and publish the analyses. It would also expand enforcement authority, allow penalties or corrective actions for noncompliance, update definitions of mental health and substance-use services, and authorize the bureau to promulgate implementing regulations.
Behavioral health providers said the changes are needed to hold insurers accountable and reverse a trend of shrinking provider participation in networks. Rebecca Catterley of the Behavioral Health Providers Coalition said evidence shows rising denials and that “substance use claims are denied 51% more often,” adding that provider network participation fell from about 50% to 37% in two years. She urged lawmakers to pass the bill to improve access and keep providers in-network.
Insurer witnesses said they support parity in principle but opposed the bill as drafted. Christopher West, testifying for Kaiser Permanente and the Virginia Association of Health Plans, said he had not seen the substitute and warned states not to move ahead while federal departments have issued a guidance pausing enforcement of a 2024 MHPAEA rule; he warned that courts and pending litigation have stayed implementation of those federal changes.
Patron-submitted remarks described the substitute as technical amendments resulting from stakeholder engagement and said the measure directs the Department of Health to adopt emergency regulations as needed. After public testimony, the committee moved and recorded a roll-call recommendation to report the substitute to the full committee.
The next step is a full committee consideration, where members will have another opportunity to discuss the substitute and any technical edits.
