Here is a heartwarming (for me) story about how the New York Attorney General is going after insurance companies that don’t pay for addiction treatment.

One of the biggest problems in drug treatment has been that insurance companies are either (a) denying coverage completely, (b) paying for a lower level of care than is recommended by professionals or (c) paying for a shorter period of treatment time than is professionally recommended. Despite the passage of the Affordable Care Act and parity laws that state that insurance companies must pay for mental health and addiction treatment when required, many (most) insurance companies are still not paying.

It is very easy to find stories about how insurance companies are denying coverage. Here is an example. Here is another. And it is not new…this story is from 2002. It’s gotten so bad that HBO has a page on their site that tells you how to hold your insurance company accountable.

New York State has been far ahead of NJ on a lot of the drug policy laws. This is just the latest example.