Apply the federal Parity Law to all health coverage

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA or Parity Law) requires equity in coverage between mental health and substance use disorder (MH/SUD) and medical/surgical benefits.[4][5] When passed in 2008, the MHPAEA applied only to group health plans and group health insurance.[4][5] However, in 2010, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) amended the law to include the individual health insurance market.[4][5] While the MHPAEA has significantly improved access to MH/SUD coverage for millions of Americans, several gaps persist. Tens of millions of Americans who receive health coverage through Medicare, fee-for-service Medicaid, TRICARE, and the Indian Health Service (IHS) are not covered by the Parity Law, leaving individuals with health insurance through these programs open to discrimination.[5][6][7] Parity protections shouldn’t apply only to a subset of Americans based on the type of insurance they have. Everyone deserves to receive equal coverage of mental health and addiction treatment services.[6]

In addition to expanding the MHPAEA’s applicability, the existing regulatory rules need to be updated and strengthened. In July 2023, the Departments of Health, Treasury and Labor issued a proposed rule that would require health plans to act when there are disparities in consumers' ability to access care, require data reporting to evaluate plans' compliance, and would create new rules regarding "network composition" to address whether individuals can access care within plan networks.[8] The administration should work quickly to finalize the proposed regulation and implement these new protections.