Biden-Harris administration to require mental health coverage parity

The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Treasury issued a statement in part, regarding benefits in parity, for mental health care insurance coverage, earlier: “As part of the Biden-Harris administration’s effort to ensure more than 150M people with private health coverage have greater access to mental health and substance use disorder care, the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury took significant action today by issuing final rules to clarify and strengthen protections to expand equitable access to these benefits as compared to medical and surgical benefits and reduce barriers to accessing these services. “Like medical care, mental health care is vital to the well-being of America’s workers,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su. “The final rules issued today make it easier for people living with mental health conditions and substance use disorders to get the life-saving care they often need.” The rules build on the departments’ commitment to achieving the full promise of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. The act requires group health plans and health insurance issuers offering group and individual health insurance coverage that offer mental health or substance use disorder benefits to cover those benefits in parity with medical and surgical benefits, without imposing greater restrictions on mental health or substance use disorder benefits as compared to medical and surgical benefits. More than 15 years after the law’s enactment, the departments’ enforcement efforts have shown that many still encounter barriers to accessing mental health and substance use disorder care as compared to medical and surgical care under their health plan or coverage.” Publicly traded companies that may be impacted include: Cigna (CI), CVS Health (CVS); UnitedHealth (UNH) Molina Healthcare (MOH), Humana (HUM) and Centene (CNC).