(November 24, 2008) The big news is California's prohibition of exclusions. Here are the legislative results from 2008: 

California (AB1461): PASSED by the assembly on August 18, 2008.

History

2007

Illinois (SB0021): PASSED by the legislature on May 22! Senator John Cullerton introduced legislation to prohibit exclusions on January 31, 2007. The bill passed the Senate unanimously on April 25, 2007 and passed the House on May 22. The governor is expected to sign the legislation within 60 days.

Maine: PASSED by the legislature and effective on September 20, 2007! Maine now prohibits exclusions. 

Oregon (HB 2348): PASSED by the legislature and signed by the governor on May 9! The Oregon bill uses unique language to control the use of exclusions.

Washington, DC: PASSED by the City Council in late-December, 2006! Newly-elected Mayor Adrian Fenty signed the legislation and the US Congress completed its 30-day review at the end of January 2007, allowing the repeal to take effect.

Washington, DC joins Maryland and Delaware in the prohibition of alcohol-related exclusions in health insurance. Although Virginia still has AELs, a recent review of policies by Ensuring Solutions found that insurers operating in the state do not include exclusions in their policies. "It's likely that there is a regional effect on insurers," says Rick Mauery, the GWU researcher who conducted the review. "When the majority of states in a metropolitan area prohibit AELs it may be easier and less costly for insurers to standardize policies and avoid the use of exclusions."

Indiana (HB 1378): PASSED unanimously by the Senate on April 3, 2007 and signed by the Governor! Representative Trent Van Haaften and Representative Suzanne Crouch introduced repeal legislation on January 16. The bill was approved by the House on February 13, 2007 (89 - 6). The Evansville Courier & Press ran a very positive article on March 30. HB 1378 was then approved by the Senate with a vote of 48-0.

California (AB1461): Assembly Member Paul Krekorian introduced a bill that would, in part, prohibit insurers from including alcohol and drug exclusions in health insurance policies. The General Assembly approved the bill on June 6, 2007, but went on to die in the Senate because of the costs associated with the screening program associated with the legislation.

Tennessee (SJR91): PASSED unanimously by the Senate and House on June 7, 2007. The joint resolution calls for the state's Comptroller of the Treasury to study current alcohol and drug laws. The resolution directs the comptroller to advise the legislature about the impact of alcohol exclusion laws.

Texas (HB 634): Representative Craig Eiland introduced repeal legislation (HB 634) on January 18. The bill was referred to the Insurance Committee on February 6 and, after public hearings and committee testimony between April 13 and 16, went on to die in committee.

Ohio (SB 54): Senators Clancy and Schuler introduced legislation to prohibit exclusions in late-February 2007 but it never made it out of committee.

In September, 2006, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) released a statement supporting the the elimination of AELs. In addition, the ACS Committee on Trauma, which is responsible for accrediting the nation's trauma centers, will require all Level I and Level II trauma centers to have a mechanism to identify problem drinkers by January 2007. Level I centers will also be required to have the capability to provide an intervention for patients identified as problem drinkers.

A recent article (see the .pdf file below) in the Journal of Addictions Nursing covers the impact of AELs on trauma centers.

During the 2006 state legislative sessions, five states introduced bills to repeal or prohibit alcohol exclusions in insurance contracts. Here's a summary of what happened in Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, and Wyoming:

Colorado (HB06-1106) - SIGNED by the Governor on April 7, 2006! Colorado now prohibits health care insurance exclusions for alcohol-related injuries. 

Connecticut (SB425) - SIGNED by the Governor on May 2, 2006! Connecticut now prohibits health care insurance exclusions for alcohol-related injuries.

Hawaii (HB2401/SB2364) - The governor of Hawaii sought to prohibit insurance exclusions as part of a comprehensive approach to identifying people with alcohol problems. After the House and Senate passed differing versions, a conference committee met for a week but was unable to reach a compromise over funding and the bill was abandoned. For more background, read an op-ed by the Lt. Governor, James R. "Duke" Aiona, Jr., that was published in the Honolulu Star Bulletin on March 7, 2006.  

Illinois (SB2453) - Sponsored by Sen. John Cullerton, the Illinois bill went to a silent death in the Rules Committee.

Wyoming (HB7) - The Wyoming bill made it through the committee process but was soundly defeated in the House by insurance interests.