Plain English Breakdown
Checked against official source text during the last sync.
AB-877: Letters to Health Plans About Residential Substance Use Treatment
This law requires state agencies to send a letter by October 1, 2026, telling health plans that residential treatment for substance use is almost exclusively nonmedical.
What This Bill Does
- Requires the Department of Managed Health Care, the Department of Insurance, and the State Department of Health Care Services to prepare one letter each.
- Mandates sending these letters to chief financial officers of health care service plans, health insurers, or Medi-Cal managed care plans that provide coverage for substance use disorder in residential facilities in California.
- States that the letter must inform recipients that treatment in licensed and certified or unlicensed residential facilities is almost exclusively nonmedical with rare exceptions.
- Requires state agencies to consult with each other and with the State Department of Social Services when writing the letter content.
- Sets a deadline for sending the letters on or before October 1, 2026.
Who It Names or Affects
- Health care service plans
- Health insurers
- Medi-Cal managed care plans that provide coverage for substance use disorder in residential facilities
Terms To Know
- Residential facilities
- Places where people live while receiving supervision or therapeutic programs, which may be licensed and certified or unlicensed.
- Nonmedical care
- Care and supervision that does not involve medical treatment by licensed health professionals, as required for most residential facilities under existing law.
Limits and Unknowns
- The law only requires sending a letter; it does not change the rules for what treatments must be covered.
- These requirements end on January 1, 2027, when this part of the bill is repealed.