The Mental Health Parity Act

What is the Mental Health Parity Act? According to the Department of Labor’s website, “The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) requires group health plans and health insurance issuers to ensure that financial requirements (such as co-pays, deductibles) and treatment limitations (such as visit limits) applicable to mental health or substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits are no more restrictive than the predominant requirements or limitations applied to substantially all medical/surgical benefits. MHPAEA supplements prior provisions under the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 (MHPA), which required parity with respect to aggregate lifetime and annual dollar limits for mental health benefits.”

Essentially this act seeks to require parity between the coverage of standard medical conditions with mental health and addiction issues. Typically, mental health services as well as addiction services and support were either not covered or had very low insurance coverage. The revision to the act supplements the existing Parity Act, passed in 1996.

Mental health and addiction are prevalent and growing issues in America and as such, the support and care for them is a hot issue. With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, there have been additional requirements that need to be fulfilled by businesses depending on their size, benefits structure and number of employees.

These regulations are not just complex at their basis but also are dynamic. They are updated regularly and as such, employers need to make sure that they are monitoring regulatory shifts. Not only is this confusing but it’s also time consuming, particularly for small to medium businesses who are sometimes exempt or required to follow separate legislation.

Feeling overwhelmed with compliance? That is where a PEO comes in. PEOs are experts in these areas and have dedicated staff to track and monitor changes and subsequently managed the implementation of changes in business process to maintain compliance. Contact us today to find a PEO who can help you stay in touch and in regulation!