Obama Rules Require Parity in Treatment of Mental, Substance Use Disorders

The U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Treasury jointly issued new rules last week providing parity for consumers enrolled in group health plans who need treatment for mental health or substance use disorders. The new rules prohibit group health insurance plans from restricting access to care by limiting benefits and requiring higher patient costs than those that apply to general medical or surgical benefits. The rules implement the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. The law requires that any group health plan that includes mental health and substance use disorder benefits along with standard medical and surgical coverage must treat them equally in terms of out-of-pocket costs, benefit limits and practices such as prior authorization and utilization review. Read the press release and this fact sheet for more information.