Timothy's Law

Timothy's Law is the reference used for a New York state statute signed into law on December 22, 2006 by Governor George E. Pataki which took effect January 1, 2007. The law requires that health plans sold in the state provide comparable coverage for mental health ailments as it does for physical aliments. This is often referred to as mental health parity.

The law was named after Timothy, a boy from Schenectady, NY who completed suicide at age 12 on March 16, 2001. Timothy had been diagnosed with several behavioral disorders and severe depression but had exhausted the mental health benefits on his family's health plan. As a result, the O'Clairs were forced to relinquish full custody of their child in order to make him eligible for Medicaid which paid for all the services which Timothy needed. However, when Timothy returned home, he once again was bound by the limits of his parents medical insurance benefits. In 2003, Timothy's parents joined other mental health advocates and lent Timothy's name to the parity movement in New York State and petitioned the state government to pass a law that would require health plans to provide coverage for mental health ailments and behavioral disorders comparable with coverage for physical ailments.

"Timothy's Law" was sponsored by Senators Thomas Morahan and Thomas Libous and passed the state senate on September 15, 2006. It was Sponsored by Assembly Members Paul Tonko and Peter Rivera and passed the Assembly consecutively for 5 years. Timothy's Law was sent to the governor on December 13, 2006 who later signed it into law. A condition of Timothy's Law passing the NY State legislature was it have a 2-year sunset clause to provide for an actuarial study on the cost effectiveness (the shortest sunset of any law in NY history). Timothy's Law became effective January 1, 2007. In May, 2009, the Superintendent of the New York State Insurance Department released the actuarial study on the cost effectiveness of Timothy's Law, and reported that the law had considerably increased mental health parity at a nominal cost to employers. It stated that neither consumers nor brokers viewed the mandates as a significant issue relative to cost or their overall purchasing decision.

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