Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act: Washington Seeks Comment

The U.S. Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services are jointly requesting information to assist in developing regulations to implement the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA). Enacted on October 3, 2008, the law prohibits health plans covering more than 50 employees from using treatment limits or financial requirements on coverage of mental health and addictive disorder services that aren't also used for substantially all other medical/surgical benefits. The law will pertain to health plans beginning with plan years starting after October 3, 2009.

In a notice published in the Federal Register on April 28th, the agencies asked for information on health plan practices potentially affected by the law, including the extent to which health plans currently impose financial requirements or treatment limitations, what information regarding medical necessity criteria plans make available, what information plans provide for explaining coverage denials, and the extent to which plans cover out-of-network providers for mental health and substance abuse benefits.

Counselors interested in commenting are encouraged to visit the Department of Labor's website. This website includes the text of the Federal Register notice regarding the MHPAEA regulations, the agency's e-mail address, and other information. The Department of Labor's press release announcing the request for public comment can be found here. Comments must be submitted on or before May 28th, 2009.