While new legislation aims to up enforcement of parity regulations, employers are pushing back on new rules to tighten requirements on mental health parity.
Here are three updates to note:
- Insurance companies are making strides in addressing disparities around mental health and substance use disorder care services but are still falling short of achieving parity under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. HHS and the Labor and Treasury Departments published their annual report on mental health parity to Congress Jan. 17. The report found widespread issues with compliance still exist, and identified persistent issues with network adequacy and “ghost networks.”
- The ERISA Industry Committee, a group representing large employers, sued to block new rules requiring enforcing tougher mental health requirements on insurers and employers. The executive director of the committee’s legal center said in a Jan. 17 statement that the regulation exceeds the authority of HHS and the departments of Labor and Treasury. Several mental health organizations backed the new rules.
- A bill that would strengthen the ability of the Department of Labor to enforce mental health parity standards for private health plans was reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Mental Health Matters Act addresses a slate of mental health issues, including funding for mental health professionals in schools. A previous version of the bill passed the House in 2022, but the provision related to mental health parity was a sticking point.
