SB 120 New Mexico Senate · 2025 Regular Session

NO BEHAVIORAL HEALTH COST SHARING

SB 120 permanently eliminates copays and coinsurance for behavioral health services in New Mexico. It applies to all group health plans, individual insurance policies, and health maintenance organizations sold in the state that cover mental health, substance abuse, and trauma treatment. The law removes all cost-sharing requirements - including fixed copays, percentage-based coinsurance, and deductibles - for services like therapy, inpatient care, medication (including brand-name drugs when generics aren’t available), and residential treatment. This change affects all health plans offering behavioral health coverage, ensuring no out-of-pocket costs for enrollees for these services. The bill amends multiple sections of New Mexico’s Health Care Purchasing Act and Insurance Code to make this elimination permanent, extending beyond the previous 2027 sunset date.
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Mar 2025
Senate Passage
Mar 2025
House Passage
Mar 2025
Signed into Law
Apr 2025
Introduced Jan 23, 2025 Signed Apr 9, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

PA substitute Final Version · 6 edits
MODERATE
This bill permanently removes cost-sharing requirements (copayments, deductibles, and coinsurance) for behavioral health services under New Mexico's health care purchasing and insurance laws. The changes apply to group health plans, individual policies, and health care certificates that offer behavioral health coverage, with specific exceptions for short-term plans, catastrophic plans, and high-deductible health plans with health savings accounts until their deductibles are met.
Scope change
The bill expands the scope from a temporary exemption (originally set to expire January 1, 2027) to a permanent prohibition on cost-sharing for behavioral health services in network. It also clarifies that the exemption applies specifically to in-network services.
TIMELINE

Removed the temporary expiration date of January 1, 2027, making the cost-sharing exemption permanent rather than temporary.

REQUIREMENT

Added specific requirement that the cost-sharing exemption applies only to behavioral health services received in-network, rather than all behavioral health services regardless of network status.

Removed emergency department visits, urgent care visits, and other specific service types from the definition of behavioral health services, narrowing the scope to professional and ancillary services for treatment, habilitation, prevention, and identification of mental illnesses, substance abuse disorders, and trauma spectrum disorders.

DEFINITION

Updated definitions of coinsurance and copayment to apply to both individual and group health insurance policies, health care plans, and certificates of health insurance, not just group health coverage.

Changed terminology from 'enrollee' to 'insured' or 'covered person' in certain sections to reflect different types of health coverage plans.

Added 'brand-name pharmacy drugs when generics are unavailable' to the definition of behavioral health services covered by the exemption.

Floor votes · House Mar 21, 2025

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
8
Key actions
6
Committee
3
Apr 9, 2025
Signed into law
Signed
executive
Mar 21, 2025
Lower · Passed
passed House
lower
Mar 19, 2025
Lower · Passed
DO PASS committee report adopted
lower
Mar 17, 2025
Introduced
Sent to House Health & Human Services Committee
lower
Mar 15, 2025
Upper · Passed
passed Senate
upper
Mar 13, 2025
Upper · Passed
DO PASS, as amended, committee report adopted
upper
Mar 3, 2025
Upper · Passed
DO NOT PASS, replaced with committee substitute
upper
Jan 23, 2025
Introduced
Sent to Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee & Senate Finance Committee
upper
2 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors