Legal services ยท Legal Action Center
Legal Action Center free legal help in New York
Free legal help for New Yorkers with substance use disorders or mental health care needs, including insurance barriers to treatment. Nationwide help is limited to certain addiction-medication cases.
Know before you go
The page says services are for people living in New York State, with some exceptions: it helps nationwide people who are denied access to, or penalized for, taking addiction medication. It lists help with insurance barriers and difficulty getting mental health or substance use disorder care. It is not a general health insurance helpline, and it does not work on every legal problem. The organization also publishes education on the federal parity law, which requires comparable coverage for mental health and substance use care.
- Cost
- Free (the page states its legal help is free of charge)
- Where
- New York
- How to start
- If you live in New York State, call the New York office at (212) 243-1313 and ask about help with an insurance barrier to treatment. Read the Legal Help page first to see if your problem fits.
- Phone
- (212) 243-1313, as printed on the provider's page
- Have ready
- The denial letter; Your plan name and member ID; A short summary of the treatment you were denied and the date
Where this comes from
- Provider
- Legal Action Center
- Source we read
- https://www.lac.org/legal-help
- Date we read it
- . This is not a fresh check.
- Date the provider printed
- Not displayed
- What we checked
- We read the provider's public page. We have not verified availability, eligibility or outcomes for any individual.
Other starting points
- Program or service
FAIR Health Consumer cost estimates
A nonprofit's tools for estimating what providers charge and what insurers pay in your area, plus insurance basics. Useful evidence in an out-of-network payment dispute. It does not file appeals or negotiate for you.
From FAIR Health
- Program or service
National Alliance on Mental Illness guide to insurance denials
A plain explanation of why mental health care is denied, five signs of a possible parity violation, and a link to a longer appeals guide written with The Kennedy Forum. Information only.
From National Alliance on Mental Illness
- Program or service
No Surprises Help Desk: surprise bill questions and complaints
The federal help desk for questions or complaints that a plan, provider or facility broke the surprise billing rules. It reviews the complaint and may refer it to another federal or state enforcer.
From Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services