The Biden administration on Tuesday proposed new rules to better ensure that people seeking coverage for mental health and substance misuse care can access treatment at the same level as those seeking coverage for physical medical treatments.
The rules from the Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury departments would push insurers to comply with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which was enacted in 2008. That law requires insurance plans that cover mental health care and substance misuse treatments to give the same level of coverage for those services as they do for other illnesses. It prohibits private health insurance companies from imposing copayments, prior authorization and other requirements on mental health or substance misuse care benefits that are more restrictive than those imposed on medical and surgical benefits.
But the administration says too many insurers are not complying with the law and do not provide enough access to mental health care.
“Mental health care is as important to the well-being of America’s workers as medical care, and we must eliminate barriers to getting people the lifesaving care that they often need,” Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su said in a statement. “Today’s announcement reaffirms the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to ensuring equal access to mental health and substance use disorder benefits for all workers and improving employee wellness.”
The proposed rules “provide clear guidance to plans and issuers on how to comply with the law’s requirements,” the administration said in its announcement.
The rule comes as mental health continues to decline for millions of Americans. Scores of research has found that rates of depression, anxiety, stress and other problems have increased in the past few years, spurred by the pandemic, financial stress and high inflation, increased workloads, and other problems. At the same time, people are having trouble getting professional help to address mental health concerns.
Nearly 1 in 3 Americans who need mental health care report that they are unable to receive it, according to the latest data from Mental Health America. State by state, those percentages range from 18 percent in West Virginia to nearly 39 percent in Indiana.
The proposed rule will be open for public comment for 60 days before being finalized.