Insurance coverage for serious mental illness [For application of this section, see 81 Del. Laws, c. 29, § 3; and 82 Del. Laws, c. 199, § 3] [Effective until Jan. 1, 2028].
Del. Code tit. 18, § 3343
in effect(a) Definitions. — For purposes of this section:
(1) “ASAM criteria” means the comprehensive set of guidelines for placement, continued stay, and transfer or discharge of patients with addiction established by the American Society of Addiction Medicine (“ASAM”) for use in determining medically necessary treatment.
(2) “Carrier” means any entity that provides health insurance in this State. For the purposes of this section, “carrier” includes an insurance company, health service corporation, health maintenance organization, and any other entity providing a plan of health insurance or health benefits subject to state insurance regulation. “Carrier” also includes any third-party administrator or other entity that adjusts, administers, or settles claims in connection with health benefit plans.
(3) “Drug and alcohol dependencies” means substance abuse disorder or the chronic, habitual, regular, or recurrent use of alcohol, inhalants, or controlled substances as identified in Chapter 47 of Title 16.
(4) “FDA” means the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
(5) “Health benefit plan” means any hospital or medical policy or certificate, major medical expense insurance, health service corporation subscriber contract, or health maintenance organization subscriber contract. Health benefit plan does not include accident-only, credit, dental, vision, Medicaid plans, long-term care or disability income insurance, coverage issued as a supplement to liability insurance, worker’s compensation or similar insurance, or automobile medical payment insurance.
“Health benefit plan” shall not include policies or certificates of specified disease, hospital confinement indemnity, or limited benefit health insurance, provided that the carrier offering such policies or certificates complies with the following:
a. The carrier files on or before March 1 of each year a certification with the Commissioner that contains the statement and information described in paragraph (a)(5)b. of this section.
b. The certification required in paragraph (a)(5)a. of this section shall contain the following:
1. A statement from the carrier certifying that policies or certificates described in this paragraph are being offered and marketed as supplemental health insurance and not as a substitute for hospital or medical expense insurance or major medical expense insurance.
2. A summary description of each policy or certificate described in this paragraph, including the average annual premium rates (or range of premium rates in cases where premiums vary by age, gender, or other factors) charged for such policies and certificates in this State.
c. In the case of a policy or certificate that is described in this paragraph and that is offered for the first time in this State on or after January 1, 1999, the carrier files with the Commissioner the information and statement required in paragraph (a)(5)b. of this section at least 30 days prior to the date such a policy or certificate is issued or delivered in this State.
(6) “Medication-assisted treatment” means the use of FDA-approved medications, in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies, to provide a whole patient approach to the treatment of drug and alcohol dependencies.
(7) “Serious mental illness” means any of the following biologically based mental illnesses: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, major depressive disorder, panic disorder, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, schizo affective disorder, and delusional disorder. The diagnostic criteria set out in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders shall be utilized to determine whether a beneficiary of a health benefit plan is suffering from a serious mental illness.
(b) Coverage of serious mental illnesses and drug and alcohol dependencies. — (1) a. Carriers shall provide coverage for serious mental illnesses and drug and alcohol dependencies in all health benefit plans delivered or issued for delivery in this State. Coverage for serious mental illnesses and drug and alcohol dependencies must provide all of the following:
1. Inpatient coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of drug and alcohol dependencies.
2. Unlimited medically necessary treatment for drug and alcohol dependencies as required by the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (29 U.S.C. § 1185a) and determined by the use of the full set of ASAM criteria, in all of the following:
A. Treatment provided in residential setting.
B. Intensive outpatient programs.
C. Inpatient withdrawal management.
b. Subject to subsections (a), (c) through (f), and (h) of this section, no carrier may issue for delivery, or deliver, in this State any health benefit plan containing terms that place a greater financial burden on an insured for covered services provided in the diagnosis and treatment of a serious mental illness and drug and alcohol dependency than for covered services provided in the diagnosis and treatment of any other illness or disease covered by the health benefit plan, including terms for deductibles, co-pays, monetary limits, coinsurance factors, limits in the numbers of visits, limits in the length of inpatient stays, durational limits, or limits in the coverage of prescription medicines.
(2) a. A health benefit plan that provides coverage for prescription drugs must provide coverage for the treatment of serious mental illnesses and drug and alcohol dependencies that includes immediate access, without prior authorization, to a 5-day emergency supply of prescribed medications covered under the health benefit plan for the medically necessary treatment of serious mental illnesses and drug and alcohol dependencies where an emergency medical condition, as defined in § 3349(e) of this title, exists, including a prescribed drug or medication associated with the management of opioid withdrawal or stabilization, except where otherwise prohibited by law.
b. Coverage of an emergency supply of prescribed medications must include medication for opioid overdose reversal otherwise covered under the health benefit plan prescribed to a covered person.
c. Coverage provided under this paragraph (b)(2) of this section may be subject to copayments, coinsurance, and annual deductibles that are consistent with those imposed on other benefits within the health benefit plan; provided, however, a health benefit plan must not impose an additional copayment or coinsurance on a covered person who received an emergency supply of the same medication in the same 30-day period in which the emergency supply of medication was dispensed.
d. This paragraph (b)(2) of this section does not preclude the imposition of a copayment or coinsurance on the initial emergency supply of medication in an amount that is less than the copayment or coinsurance otherwise applicable to a 30-day supply of such medication, provided that the total sum of copayments or coinsurance for an entire 30-day supply of the medication does not exceed the copayment or coinsurance otherwise applicable to a 30-day supply of such medication.
(3) A health benefit plan that provides coverage for prescription drugs must place at least 1 formulation of a medication-assisted treatment on the lowest tier of the drug formulary developed and maintained by the carrier, including each of the following:
a. Buprenorphine.
b. Naltrexone.
c. Naloxone.
d. A product containing both buprenorphine and naloxone.
(4) A health benefit plan that provides coverage for prescription drugs must cover the fees associated with the administration or dispensing of methadone dispensed at an opioid treatment program as defined under 42 C.F.R. § 8.2.
(c) Eligibility for coverage. — (1) Subject to the limitations under subsection (d) of this section, a health benefit plan may condition coverage of services provided in the diagnosis and treatment of a serious mental illness and drug and alcohol dependency on any of the following requirements:
a. That the services must be rendered by a mental health professional licensed or certified by the State Board of Licensing including, but not limited to, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and other such mental health professionals, or a drug and alcohol counselor who has been certified by the Delaware Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselors Certification Board, or in a mental health facility licensed by the State or in a treatment facility approved by the Department of Health and Social Services or the Bureau of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse as set forth in Chapter 22 of Title 16, or substantially similar licensing entities in other states.
b. That the services must be medically necessary.
c. That the services must be covered services subject to any administrative requirements of the health benefit plan.
(2) A health benefit plan may further condition coverage of services provided in the diagnosis and treatment of a serious mental illness and drug and alcohol dependency in the same manner and to the same extent as coverage for all other illnesses and diseases is conditioned. Such conditions include precertification and referral requirements.
(d) Benefit management. — (1) A carrier may, directly or by contract with another qualified entity, manage the benefit prescribed by subsection (b) of this section in order to limit coverage of services provided in the diagnosis and treatment of a serious mental illness and drug and alcohol dependency to those services that are deemed medically necessary as follows:
a. The management of benefits for serious mental illnesses and drug and alcohol dependencies may be by methods used for the management of benefits provided for other medical conditions, or may be by management methods unique to mental health benefits, including pre-admission screening, prior authorization of services, utilization review, and the development and monitoring of treatment plans.
b. A carrier may not impose precertification, prior authorization, pre-admission screening, or referral requirements for the diagnosis and medically necessary treatment of drug and alcohol dependencies, including inpatient treatment or on a prescription medication under paragraph (b)(3) of this section.
c. The benefit prescribed by paragraph (b)(1) of this section may not be subject to concurrent utilization review during the first 14 days of any inpatient admission to a facility approved by a nationally recognized health-care accrediting organization or the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, 30 days of intensive outpatient program treatment, or 5 days of inpatient withdrawal management, provided that the facility notifies the carrier of both the admission and the initial treatment plan within 48 hours of the admission. The facility shall perform daily clinical review of the patient, including the periodic consultation with the carrier to ensure that the facility is using the evidence-based and peer reviewed clinical review tool utilized by the carrier which is designated by the American Society of Addiction Medicine (“ASAM”) or, if applicable, any state-specific ASAM criteria, and appropriate to the age of the patient, to ensure that the inpatient treatment is medically necessary for the patient.
d. Any utilization review of treatment provided under paragraph (b)(1) of this section may include a review of all services provided during such inpatient treatment, including all services provided during the first 14 days of such inpatient treatment, 30 days of intensive outpatient program treatment, or 5 days of inpatient withdrawal management; provided, however, the carrier may only deny coverage for any portion of the initial 14-day inpatient treatment on the basis that such treatment was not medically necessary if such inpatient treatment was contrary to the evidence-based and peer reviewed clinical review tool utilized by the carrier which is designated by ASAM or, if applicable, any state-specific ASAM criteria.
e. A covered person does not have any financial obligation to the facility for any treatment under paragraph (b)(1) of this section other than any copayment, coinsurance, or deductible otherwise required under the health benefit plan.
f. A carrier must authorize coverage of prescription medicine without imposing a step therapy requirement for at least 1 formulation of each prescription medication for medication-assisted treatment that is on each tier of the drug formulary developed and maintained by the carrier.
(2) This section shall not be interpreted to require a carrier to employ the same benefit management procedures for serious mental illnesses and drug and alcohol dependencies that are employed for the management of other illnesses or diseases covered by the health benefit plan or to require parity or equivalence in the rate, or dollar value of, claims denied.
(e) Exclusions. — This section does not apply to plans or policies not within the definition of health benefit plan, as set out in subsection (a) of this section.
(f) Out of network services. — Where a health benefit plan provides benefits for the diagnosis and treatment of serious mental illnesses and drug and alcohol dependencies within a network of providers and where a beneficiary of the health benefit plan obtains services consisting of diagnosis and treatment of a serious mental illness and drug and alcohol dependency outside of the network of providers, this section shall not apply. The health benefit plan may contain terms and conditions applicable to out of network services without reference to this section.
(g) Reporting requirements. —
Each carrier must submit a report to the Delaware Health Information Network in conjunction with the Commissioner on or before July 1 2019, and any year thereafter during which the carrier makes significant changes to how it designs and applies its medical management protocols; the report must contain the following information:
(1) A description of the process used to develop or select the medical necessity criteria for mental illness and drug and alcohol dependencies benefits and the process used to develop or select the medical necessity criteria for medical and surgical benefits.
(2) Identification of all nonquantitative treatment limitations (NQTLs) that are applied to mental illness and drug and alcohol dependencies benefits and medical and surgical benefits within each classification of benefits; there may be no separate NQTLs that apply to mental illness and drug and alcohol dependencies benefits that do not also apply to medical and surgical benefits within any classification of benefits.
(3) The results of an analysis that demonstrates that for the medical necessity criteria described in paragraph (g)(1) of this section and for each NQTL identified in paragraph (g)(2) of this section, as written and in operation, the processes, strategies, evidentiary standards, or other factors used in applying the medical necessity criteria and each NQTL to mental illness and drug and alcohol dependencies benefits within each classification of benefits are comparable to, and are applied no more stringently than, the processes, strategies, evidentiary standards, or other factors used in applying the medical necessity criteria and each NQTL to medical and surgical benefits within the corresponding classification of benefits; at a minimum, the results of the analysis shall:
a. Identify the factors used to determine that an NQTL will apply to a benefit, including factors that were considered but rejected.
b. Identify and define the specific evidentiary standards used to define the factors and any other evidence relied upon in designing each NQTL.
c. Provide the comparative analyses, including the results of the analyses, performed to determine that the processes and strategies used to design each NQTL, as written, for mental illness and drug and alcohol dependencies benefits are comparable to, and are applied no more stringently than, the processes and strategies used to design each NQTL, as written, for medical and surgical benefits.
d. Provide the comparative analyses, including the results of the analyses, performed to determine that the processes and strategies used to apply each NQTL, in operation, for mental illness and drug and alcohol dependencies benefits are comparable to, and applied no more stringently than, the processes or strategies used to apply each NQTL, in operation, for medical and surgical benefits.
e. Disclose the specific findings and conclusions reached by the carrier that the results of the analyses above indicate that the carrier is in compliance with this section and the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 [P.L. 104-204] and its implementing regulations, which includes 45 C.F.R. 146.136, 45 C.F.R. 147.160, and any other related federal regulations found in the Code of Federal Regulations.
(4) Any information submitted to the Delaware Health Information Network and the Commissioner by a carrier that is considered proprietary by the carrier shall not be made public record.
(5) The Insurance Commissioner shall retain the authority to enforce the provisions of this section. The provisions of this section shall not give rise to a private cause of action.
(h) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or reduce any benefit, entitlement, or coverage conferred by § 3366 of this title including, but not limited to, provider and service eligibility.
(i) This section does not apply to plans of health insurance or health benefits designed for issuance to persons eligible for coverage under Titles XVIII, XIX, and XXI of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1395 et seq., 1396 et seq., and 1397aa et seq., known as Medicare, Medicaid, or any other coverage under a state or federal government plan.
Source: DE Code (Official Site)URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title18/c033/sc01/index.htmlFetched: 10/4/2026