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Senate passes bill to broaden mental-health parity protections for insured Delawareans
Summary
The Delaware Senate approved Senate Bill 22 on third reading May 12, expanding mental-health parity protections—covering conditions such as PTSD and eating disorders, limiting disruptive prior-authorization practices, and aiming to preserve state-level protections amid federal uncertainty.
The Delaware Senate on May 12 passed Senate Bill 22, a package of insurance changes intended to strengthen mental-health parity and expand coverage for a broader set of behavioral health conditions.
Sponsor Senator Townsend, speaking on the floor, said the bill aims "to make sure that mental healthcare is approached in the same ways that physical healthcare has been approached," and described provisions intended to remove obstacles such as sudden prior-authorization denials. Townsend noted the bill would expand parity protections beyond substance-use disorders to include conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders and anxiety disorders. "Not having prior authorizations be something that suddenly disrupts the ability of someone to continue mental healthcare," the sponsor said.
Townsend cited data the chamber has heard in recent years: "There are, I believe, 165,000 Delaware adults who live with a mental health condition, including 15,000 Delaware teenagers who have a major depressive episode each year," underscoring the sponsor's argument for stronger access to care.
The bill’s text makes several changes to Title 18 of the Delaware Code (insurance coverage) to require parity in standards, evidence, and administrative processes between behavioral-health and physical-health benefits. In floor remarks Townsend argued the state must act to preserve progress if federal rules change, noting similar state-level measures in other states.
After brief floor discussion and with a roll call requested by the sponsor, the Senate recorded 21 yes votes; the presiding officer declared Senate Bill 22 passed by the Senate.
Next steps: The bill was passed by the Senate on third reading and will proceed according to interchamber procedures for concurrence or transmittal to the governor, as applicable.
