The Department of Labor has submitted proposed rules under the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addition Equity Act of 2008 (“the Act”) to the White House Office of Management and Budget, which is the final stage before proposed rules are published.
Health plans covered by the Act are prohibited from placing limitations on mental health and substance abuse treatments that are more stringent than those applied for medical or surgical care. In a recent review, the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration found that every health plan it reviewed had failed to implement the Act’s parity requirements.
The proposed new rules are intended to make insurers’ obligations under the Act clearer, to assist in compliance and to update requirements based on recent experience.
The attorneys at Whatley Kallas, LLP will continue to follow the proposed rules as they are published and finalized.
Whatley Kallas’s earlier article on the Department of Labor’s review of health plans’ implementation of the Act’s requirements is linked here.