NY A01921

Requires all health insurance policies that cover pain management services to provide outpatient coverage for non-opioid chronic pain treatments, including complementary and integrative treatments and FDA-approved non-opioid drugs for acute or chronic pain

Prohibits insurers from applying more restrictive financial requirements (deductibles, copays, coinsurance) or treatment limitations to non-opioid pain treatments than those applied to the majority of medical benefits or to opioid-based treatments

Bans insurers from designating non-opioid pain drugs as "non-preferred" if any opioid drug is designated as "preferred," and prohibits more restrictive prior authorization or step therapy requirements for non-opioid drugs than for opioids

Defines chronic pain as pain persisting or recurring for more than three months, and acute pain as pain reasonably expected to last only a short period

Applies to individual policies, group/blanket policies, and contracts issued by hospital service corporations, health service corporations, and medical expense indemnity corporations, effective January 1 following enactment