An Act requiring mental health parity for disability policies

This bill (SD 1553) requires disability insurance policies in Massachusetts to provide equal coverage for behavioral health disorders (like mental health conditions) as for physical disorders. It prohibits individual and group disability policies from imposing different benefit limits or exclusions on people with mental health conditions compared to those with physical health conditions. The law allows medical exams to verify disability, as long as these requirements are identical for both types of conditions. This directly affects disability insurers and policyholders in Massachusetts by mandating fair treatment of mental health claims under existing disability coverage.