---
type: source
title: "New York State Commits to Mental Health Parity Index Deep-Dive for 11M Commercially Insured Residents"
author: "Kennedy Forum / New York Community Trust / NY DFS"
url: https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/ama-press-releases/new-insurer-data-shows-parity-gaps-mental-vs-physical-health-care
date: 2026-04-30
domain: health
secondary_domains: []
format: news-report
status: unprocessed
priority: medium
tags: [mental-health, parity, MHPAEA, New-York, DFS, state-enforcement, Kennedy-Forum]
intake_tier: research-task
---

## Content

New York State, with support from the New York Community Trust, committed to examining in-depth metrics for data affecting its **11 million commercially insured** citizens using the Mental Health Parity Index.

**Context from Georgia Public Broadcasting (April 30, 2026):** New tools launched to measure how well insurers are covering mental health, specifically addressing the gap between coverage mandate and actual access.

**Two-state natural experiment emerging:**
1. **Illinois:** First state to conduct deep-dive parity analysis; also defied the federal enforcement pause (Company Bulletin 2025-10 enforces ALL provisions of 2024 Final Rule including paused outcome data evaluation requirements)
2. **New York:** Committed to examining 11M commercially insured citizens with the Index

**New York's enforcement infrastructure:** NY Department of Financial Services (NY DFS) has historically been one of the most aggressive insurance enforcement agencies in the US. Unlike many states, NY DFS has the authority and track record to convert parity analysis data into enforcement actions.

**Additional state activation (from AHA reporting):** The Index launch is activating multiple states to begin data collection. The transparent payer file data architecture is designed to make state-level enforcement possible without federal cooperation.

**National picture:**
- 43 states show disparities
- All 50 states show payment disparities
- Federal enforcement paused (Trump administration)
- State enforcement record $40M+ in 2026 (Georgia $25M, Washington $550K+$300K, others)

## Agent Notes
**Why this matters:** NY DFS + New York Community Trust combination is significant. NY DFS is aggressive and well-resourced; NY Community Trust provides the funding for deep-dive analysis. With 11M commercially insured residents, New York is nearly as large a natural experiment as Illinois but with stronger enforcement infrastructure. If NY DFS finds data showing systematic reimbursement parity violations, enforcement actions would dwarf Georgia's $25M record.

**What surprised me:** The NY Community Trust involvement. A major philanthropy is funding the analysis that could trigger billion-dollar enforcement actions. This is an unusual public-private structure: philanthropy enabling regulatory enforcement.

**What I expected but didn't find:** A timeline for when the New York analysis will be completed or results published. The Illinois analysis is ongoing — NY presumably will take months to analyze 11M enrollees.

**KB connections:**
- the mental health supply gap is widening not closing — the two-state natural experiment is the first empirical test of whether state enforcement can close the gap that federal enforcement won't address
- value-based care transitions stall at the payment boundary — state parity enforcement is trying to address the payment boundary from the regulatory side
- Three-level MHPAEA framework (Sessions 32-33): NY's analysis could generate the level 2 (reimbursement rate) evidence needed for structural enforcement

**Extraction hints:**
- This is primarily a status update rather than a standalone claim candidate
- Most useful for enriching the MHPAEA enforcement claim with NY as the second state to conduct deep-dive analysis
- The NY DFS enforcement authority + large commercially insured population (11M) makes this a high-stakes natural experiment

**Context:** Part of a broader state-level compensation pattern for federal enforcement withdrawal. The Parity Index's transparent data architecture is specifically designed to enable state action without federal cooperation.

## Curator Notes (structured handoff for extractor)
PRIMARY CONNECTION: the mental health supply gap is widening not closing — state enforcement infrastructure being built around the Index
WHY ARCHIVED: NY is the second major state committing to deep-dive analysis; NY DFS enforcement authority could produce the largest parity enforcement actions to date
EXTRACTION HINT: Archive primarily for enrichment of existing claims; the IL + NY natural experiment is the analytical frame but results won't be available for 6-12 months minimum
