The civic record
Read. Follow. Verify.Kentucky House Bill 279 mandates mental health insurance parity, establishes advisory council, and expands enforcement powers
Last action · January 15, 2026: to Banking & Insurance (H)Sponsors: Vanessa Grossl and 3 others
Track this bill to get notified when it advances a stage. One tap to stop, anytime.
What This Bill Proposed
Kentucky HB 279 requires health benefit plans to cover mental health and substance use disorder treatments under terms no more restrictive than physical health conditions, effective January 1, 2027. The bill mandates annual compliance reporting by insurers, authorizes enforcement actions by the Attorney General and private citizens, creates the Advisory Council on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder , and sets initial staggering terms for its members.
Insurers and health plans must align mental health and substance use coverage standards with physical health benefits, while policyholders gain expanded legal avenues, including a private cause of action and Attorney General enforcement, to contest coverage denials beginning in 2027.
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Health benefit plan enrollees
Enrollees receive guaranteed parity between mental health and physical health coverage, combined deductible limits, and the right to bring private legal actions for violations.
Insurers
Insurers must adjust mental health coverage terms to match physical health standards, submit detailed annual compliance reports, and face potential civil penalties, Attorney General enforcement, and private lawsuits for noncompliance.
Health care professionals and facilities
Providers are granted the ability to bring private causes of action for unfulfilled mental health benefits and must follow standardized claim rules.
State employees
State employee health plans managed under KRS 18A.225 must comply with the mental health parity mandates and reporting rules.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does HB 279 require health insurance plans to do regarding mental health?
Are small businesses exempt from these requirements?
Can individuals sue if an insurer violates mental health parity laws?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
Follow the record
Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · in House committee.
Procedural history
2 actions- Jan 15, 2026HouseCommitteeto Banking & Insurance (H)
- Jan 8, 2026HouseIntroducedintroduced in House to Committee on Committees (H)
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Expansion of Enforcement to the Attorney General and Private Citizens
The bill shifts enforcement beyond insurance commissioner oversight by expressly authorizing civil actions by the Attorney General and private causes of action for injured policyholders and providers.
Connected Entities
Sources
apps.legislature.ky.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 85)
- Controversy45Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz40Current news / social attention level
Publisher tools