State Officials Mark Mental Health Awareness Month, Cite 2025 Parity Law

HARTFORD, CT — State officials marked Mental Health Awareness Month Monday by restating Connecticut's commitment to ensuring that health insurers provide their customers with equitable access to mental health treatment Tuesday during a news conference at the state Capitol.

Gov. Ned Lamont, Attorney General William Tong, Comptroller Sean Scanlon, and state Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey, D-Fairfield, co-chair of the General Assembly's Public Health Committee, said they were putting the state's health insurers on notice that they must abide by the provisions of the Mental Health Parity Improvements bill passed last July. The law stipulates that:

* Insurers that don't provide the same coverage for mental health as they would for any medical or surgical conditions may face fines totalling up to $625,000;

* Insurers must provide public disclosure of their compliance efforts each year, and;

* Restricts insurers' use of the "step therapy" approach that refers patients to the most basic form of treatment before referring them to the level of care recommended by doctors.

"Today and every day hereafter, mental health parity is the law of the land," Tong said, pledging to call out insurers not in compliance with the law. Tong said he would not rest until "insurers step up and do the right thing" for clients who pay for coverage and depend on mental health services.

Christa Steiner, this year's "Miss Constitution State," also spoke about her own experience with bipolar disorder and advocated on behalf of Connecticut residents struggling to afford mental health treatment.

Steiner said the opportunity to receive treatment in order to recover from a mental health disorder is a right, not a privilege — a sentiment echoed by other officials at the briefing, including Scanlon and McCarthy Vahey

"I am here today to say there is always hope, there is always help," McCarthy Vahey said. "We are here to commit to you, the people of Connecticut, that we will do everything in our power to make sure that you know how to find that help."

Lamont promised that the state would continue to actively address mental health policy challenges beyond May, which is Mental Health Awareness month. He also said he was concerned about the growing use of artificial intelligence — or chatbots — to treat mental health conditions.

"Sometimes people go looking for help in the wrong places," Lamont said, adding that he was working to regulate the use of chatbots for mental health counseling and ensure that they immediately refer people to care when there is cause for concern.

Lamont urged residents to "look out for your friends" and to "make sure that they feel comfortable reaching out to you."