NY pushes new insurance regulations to combat drug crisis

New York state is pushing new health insurance reforms to combat the state’s heroin and opioid crisis. The new reforms will go into effect Jan. 1, according to a report from silive.com.

Under the new regulations, health insurance plans in the state will be required to cover treatment services for New Yorkers suffering from opioid addiction. Insurance plans will also be required to increase access to treatment, expand “community prevention strategies,” and limit the “over-prescription,” of opioids, silive.com reported.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the reforms into law earlier this year.

“With these landmark reforms fully enacted, we have removed artificial barriers that prevented New Yorkers from receiving the help they need and put into place new safeguards to get these drugs off the street,” Cuomo said. “As families and communities across the nation grapple with the devastating effects of this opioid and heroin crisis, New York is leading the fight to stamp out this disease once and for all.”

The new regulations include four measures to improve access to in-patient treatment and medication, silive.com reported:

• Insurers must cover in-patient treatment for substance use disorders for as long as the individual needs it. Utilization review by insurers cannot begin until after the first 14 days of treatment, to ensure that every patient can get at least two weeks of uninterrupted care.
• Insurers cannot require prior approval of emergency supplies of drug treatment medication.
• All insurers operating in the state must use “objective, state-approved_ criteria to make coverage determinations for substance abuse treatment.
• Insurance companies are required to cover the costs of the treatment medication naloxone when prescribed to a person addicted to opioids or to family members on the same insurance plan.