Mental Health Parity Law Effective October 3, 2009
Posted by Andy Gregory on Wed, Sep 16, 2009 @ 11:32 AM
Last October, the House passed the Mental Health Parity & Addiction Equity Act of 2008. It requires group health and self-insured plans that cover more than 50 employees to provide coverage for treatment of mental illness that is comparable to what they provide for physical illness. This law goes into effect on October 3, 2009.
In general, here is what the new law requires:
- Insurance plans can no longer establish higher deductibles, co-pays, co-insurance, and out of pocket expenses for mental health services if the same plan has does not have the same limits on physical illnesses.
- Cost sharing requirements for mental health or substance abuse disorder cannot be separate.
- Treatment limitations, such as number of visits, days of coverage, or frequency of treatment may not be more restrictive that those for physical illnesses.
- Insurers cannot differentiate between mental health conditions.
There are a few details left to be determined, but the final regulations will be issued by the Secretaries of Treasury, Labor, and Health & Human Services by October 3, 2009. We will continue to monitor this issue and will keep you informed.