AG Supports Outpatient Mental Illness Coverage

State law requires group health benefit plans to cover, based on medical necessity, at least 60 visits per year for outpatient treatment of serious mental illness, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott ruled in an opinion issued in late October.

General Abbott said the State Insurance Code "requires coverage for an outpatient visit … on the same terms as for physical illness. Group health plans that provide more than 60 outpatient visits for physical illnesses must accordingly provide the same number of visits for serious mental illnesses."

State Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) sought the opinion.

Action , Nov. 3, 2008

Last Updated On

March 20, 2014

Originally Published On

March 23, 2010

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