Alaska Regulations

The Alaska Division of Insurance requires plans to complete checklists demonstrating their compliance with various sections of state and federal law. This checklist (pdf | Get Adobe® Reader®) is for small employer fully-insured plans and large employer fully-insured plans and requires them to show that they comply with the requirements of Federal Parity Law (pages 3, 4, 5). This checklist (pdf | Get Adobe® Reader®) requires individual plans to show that they comply with the Federal Parity Law (pages 5, 6).

The Alaska Division of Insurance issued a bulletin (pdf | Get Adobe® Reader®) to plans about the section of the state insurance law about autism coverage. It clarified that plans cannot deny payment for services provided by a professional who is not licensed in Alaska if that professional is “licensed, certified, or registered by…a nationally recognized certifying organization.” The bulletin lists the Behavior Analyst Certification Board as an example of that type of organization.

The Alaska Division of Insurance updated its Affordable Care Act compliance form. On page 6 (pdf | Get Adobe® Reader®) it explains that because the section of the state insurance law about autism coverage requires medically necessary pharmacy care, psychiatric care, psychological care, habilitative or rehabilitative care, and therapeutic care, autism coverage counts as an essential health benefit. It also reminds plans that there cannot be any visit limits for outpatient care for autism coverage (the section of the state insurance law about autism coverage is summarized at the bottom of this page under “Alaska Parity Law,” “Autism Coverage”).