BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 796 (Nazarian) - Health care coverage: autism and pervasive
developmental disorders
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|Version: June 30, 2016 |Policy Vote: HEALTH 6 - 2, |
| | HUMAN S. 5 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: August 11, 2016 |Consultant: Brendan McCarthy |
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*********** ANALYSIS ADDENDUM - SUSPENSE FILE ***********
The following information is revised to reflect amendments
adopted by the committee on August 11, 2016
Bill
Summary: AB 796 would delete the existing statutory sunset on
the mandate to provide health care coverage for behavioral
health treatment for autism and related disorders.
Fiscal
Impact:
One-time costs of about $50,000 and ongoing costs of $15,000
per year to review health plan filings for compliance with the
requirements of the bill and to undertake any necessary
enforcement actions by the Department of Managed Health Care
AB 796 (Nazarian) Page 1 of
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(Managed Care Fund).
Likely costs of less than $100,000 per year for review of
health insurance plan filings and enforcement actions by the
Department of Insurance (Insurance Fund).
No state costs are anticipated due to the elimination of the
existing sunset on the benefit mandate. Current law exempts
Medi-Cal managed care plans and CalPERS coverage from the
benefit mandate. This bill does not eliminate those
exemptions,
While existing law specifically mandates coverage for
behavioral health treatment, separate federal and state mental
health parity requirements and requirements for the provision
of essential health benefits implicitly require coverage for
behavioral health treatment for autism and related disorders.
Therefore, elimination of the statutory sunset will not
materially impact coverage for behavioral health treatment.
Nor will eliminating the sunset require the state to pay for
the costs to subsidize coverage for behavioral health
treatment coverage for subsidized Covered California plans.
Committee
Amendments: Delete the requirement that the Department of
Developmental Services to update its regulations to set forth
minimum standards for autism service professionals and
paraprofessionals providing behavioral health treatments other
than applied behavioral analysis (ABA).
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