A partnership between HHS and the Department of Labor developed new and free informational resources to educate Americans about their legal rights on mental health benefits coverage.
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 requires most health plans and insurers make their mental health benefits comparable to the benefits of medical and surgical procedures.
This was created to ensure that deductibles, copays, out-of-pocket maximums and treatment limitations for mental health or substance use disorders can't be more restrictive than their corresponding offerings for medical and surgical benefits.
"[Despite the law,] many insurance providers continue to fall short in this area," HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in an April 27 HHS press release.
"The full implementation of parity is essential to ensuring a healthy future for Americans," said Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, PhD, the HHS assistant secretary for mental health and substance use and the leader of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. "It is vital for people to understand that insurance companies covering mental health and substance use conditions must do so as they would other medical conditions, and to understand the steps consumers can take to seek redress if the requirements of the law are not being met."
According to HHS, SAMHSA is providing these resources to help inform Americans of their insurance benefits under law and to help state insurance regulators and behavioral health staff better understand parity laws.
A list of the new resources can be found on the SAMHSA website here.