This month we celebrate! The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 has taken effect for plan years beginning July 1, 2010 or later. This is the "parity" law. Simply put, “parity” is the treatment of addiction and mental illness in insurance benefits in the same way as other medical conditions.
This federal law applies to:
- Employers with more than 50 employees that previously carried a mental health and addictions services benefit
- Medicaid managed care plans (NH Medicaid is not managed care)
- State children’s health insurance programs
- Nonfederal government plans
It states that coverage for mental health and addiction services must be the same as that for medical and surgical coverage. This mandates that:
- Financial requirements (copayments, deductibles, etc)
- Treatment limitations (for example visit limits) and
- Out-of-network benefits
MUST be the same for mental health and addiction services as they are for medical conditions.
Clearly there is more work to be done as this law does not apply universally however, this is a great month for us all to celebrate a huge leap in the right direction. For more info about parity see the New Futures Policy Brief: Federal Parity.