Community Law Advocacy Society

New Illinois Parity Law Recognizes State Funded Addiction ...

(Springfield, ILLINOIS) – In a move that raises the bar for addiction treatment advocates and legislators in other states, state-funded addiction treatment providers were specifically codified in to law as covered providers when Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed the Illinois Mental Health Parity bill August 18, 2011.

HB 1530 establishes parity for addiction treatment services among health insurance policies, but exceeds the recently enacted Federal law in several ways. The Illinois law specifically recognizes those community-based providers that the state contracts with for services. Additionally, the law sets forth a definition for substance use disorders and requires medical necessity determinations to be made in accordance with appropriate patient placement criteria established by the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM).

“The Federal law leaves the determination of who is a covered provider up to the states,” said Patrick Gauthier, director of Healthcare Solutions, a division of Advocates for Human Potential (AHP), who assisted in developing the addiction treatment services language for the legislation. “By specifically identifying the state-funded and licensed providers in Illinois as covered providers, the Illinois law recognizes the quality of care and life-saving services that have been historically provided by this network of community-based agencies. This is implementation of addiction parity as it was intended to be, something our field has been fighting for years to achieve.”

This is an important step forward and sets the precedent for other states to recognize and implement parity for all addiction services providers, including the private and publicly-funded providers, said Gauthier.

“ This is very unique,” he said. “It really is a feather in the cap of the state of Illinois to be able to bridge the gap between the Department of Human Services, Division of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, the contract agency for the state-funded providers, and the Department of Insurance. This level of coordination across systems and departments is uncommon in the majority of states implementing parity laws.

Community, the structure of belonging

The Law

Community, the tie that binds

Community, seeking safety in an insecure world

Community