Thiele bill would require insurers to pay for drug rehab
Assemblyman Fred Thiele Jr. (I-Sag Harbor) is co-sponsoring legislation that would require insurance companies to provide at least 90 days of inpatient rehabilitation service to those they insure, providing it’s ordered by a doctor.The legislation, co-sponsored with Assemblyman Al Stirpe of Syracuse, comes in response to a rising incidence of heroin use.
All communities are susceptible to heroine or prescription opioid addiction and the use or misuse of these drugs is a problem in rural, suburban and urban areas, Mr. Thiele said.
Requiring a minimum of 90 days of insurance coverage for inpatient rehabilitation services is a means of reversing what has become a national trend, he said.