HB 612: Behavioral Health Coordinating Council; add member

Georgia law already sets up a Behavioral Health Coordinating Council made up of state agency heads and appointed experts to oversee mental health, developmental disability, and addiction services. This bill adds the Insurance Commissioner as a new voting member and lets that office send a delegate to meetings, just like other commissioners already can. The bill also creates a new parity compliance review panel inside the council. The panel would include several state officials and eight appointed members, including clinicians, hospital executives, and advocates. Health care providers would be required to report suspected violations of Georgia's mental health parity laws (which require insurers to cover mental health care on par with physical health care) to the panel. The panel would set up a complaint process, evaluate complaints, recommend punitive action to the Commissioner of Insurance or the commissioner of community health, and produce educational materials for consumers and providers.

• Adds the Insurance Commissioner as a voting member of the Behavioral Health Coordinating Council and allows that office to send a delegate to meetings.
• Creates a new parity compliance review panel under O.C.G.A. § 37-2-12, made up of four state officials and eight appointed members including clinicians, hospital executives, and advocates.
• Requires health care providers licensed under Title 43, or hospitals and facilities regulated under Title 31 or Title 37, to report suspected mental health parity violations by insurers to the panel.
• Directs the panel to build a complaint intake process, evaluate complaints, and recommend punitive actions to the Commissioner of Insurance or the commissioner of community health.
• Authorizes the panel to request more information from insurers, create consumer and provider education materials, and coordinate with the Governor's office and the Department of Community Health.
• Makes the existing Behavioral Health Coordinating Council serve in an advisory role to the new parity compliance review panel.

The Insurance Commissioner's office joins the Behavioral Health Coordinating Council. Health care providers, hospitals, and facilities licensed under Georgia law must report suspected parity violations. Health insurers face new complaint review and possible punitive recommendations, and mental health clinicians, hospital executives, and advocates would serve on the new panel.

Georgians with mental health or substance use coverage could see stronger enforcement of rules requiring insurers to cover mental health care the same way they cover physical health care, since providers would now have a required channel to flag suspected violations for state review.

• Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 37-2-4 to add the Insurance Commissioner to the Behavioral Health Coordinating Council's membership and delegate provisions.
• Section 1 also adds subsection (j), making the council serve an advisory role to the new parity compliance review panel.
• Section 2 creates O.C.G.A. § 37-2-12, establishing the parity compliance review panel with four official members and eight appointed members (two clinicians, two facility executives, and two advocates).
• Section 2 requires health care providers to report suspected violations of mental health parity laws found in O.C.G.A. §§ 33-1-27 and 33-21A-13 to the panel.
• Section 2 directs the panel to create a complaint process, evaluate complaints, and recommend punitive actions to the Commissioner of Insurance or the commissioner of community health depending on which parity statute is at issue.
• Section 2 authorizes the panel to request additional information from insurers, produce multilingual educational materials, and coordinate with the Governor's office and Department of Community Health.
• Section 2 allows the panel, subject to available funding, to build a support team for research, report preparation, and educational materials.
• Section 3 repeals conflicting laws.

1. 2025-03-04Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2025-03-03House Passed/Adopted (House)
3. 2025-03-03House Third Readers (House)
4. 2025-02-28House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
5. 2025-02-26House Second Readers (House)
6. 2025-02-24House First Readers (House)
7. 2025-02-24House Hopper (House)

• Katie Dempsey (R, HD-13)Primary sponsor
• Karen Mathiak (R, HD-82)
• Todd Jones (R, HD-25)
• Mary Margaret Oliver (D, HD-84)
• Sharon Cooper (R, HD-45)

1. PassedHouse voteMarch 3, 2025

   170 yea, 2 nay (3 not voting, 5 excused)

   PASSAGE: House Vote #137

• mental health parity
• health insurance regulation
• behavioral health policy
• Georgia Insurance Commissioner
• health care providers