Health insurance may have only recently become a hot topic in politics, but state laws have significantly influenced healthcare options for decades. Health insurance is offered on the state level, so state health insurance laws have always affected what kinds of health insurance residents could buy and what liberties health insurance companies could take. In 2010, federal insurance mandates further affected how insurance companies covered standard healthcare. Although there are many state regulations, some of the most common are those that mandate coverage for certain conditions and limit or ban some insurance company practices.

Some state health insurance laws require insurance companies to cover certain conditions or groups of people. This mandated coverage extends from required coverage for pregnancy and fertility assistance to coverage for dealing with obesity and related conditions. States enact new mandates each year. For example, in 2011, Colorado passed a law requiring health insurance companies to cover fetal alcohol syndrome disorders. Arkansas, among many others, added autism spectrum disorder to its list of conditions that health insurance companies must cover in 2011. Other 2011 mandates included coverage for medical equipment, cancer screening and home births.

When people examine what conditions states require insurance companies to cover, they can get an idea of how standard healthcare is changing. Often, the conditions that states require companies to cover are those that have been in the news a great deal because doctors and scientists have learned more about them. For example, autism, obesity and cancer are all diseases that the medical profession has learned a great deal about lately.

In addition to mandating insurance companies to cover certain diseases, state health insurance laws also bar them from engaging in certain practices. Many states have issued laws regarding what kinds of groups health insurance companies can deny for group policies. In some states, insurance companies are required to give all small businesses group policies. In other states, businesses without employees cannot get group policies. In still other cases, insurance companies must extend coverage but may note that a certain percentage of the group must participate in order to get a group rate. Recently passed federal regulations do not allow insurance companies to deny a child a policy because that child has a preexisting condition.

State laws play such an important role in health insurance that they often change what people think of as standard healthcare. As states require more and more insurance companies to cover diseases and conditions that scientists learn more about, the procedures that are used to treat those conditions become the standard. Before obtaining an insurance policy, consumers should check state laws to ensure the policy they are considering abides by state laws.