January 27, 2022
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The United States Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Department of the Treasury have released the 2022 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) report, Realizing Parity, Reducing Stigma, and Raising Awareness: Increasing Access to Substance Use Disorder Coverage, to Congress. The MHPAEA requires the Secretary of Labor to submit a report on compliance by group health plans to the appropriate Congressional committees. The first such report was due in January 2011, and additional reports have been delivered every two years since. The 2022 MHPAEA report to Congress highlights the Secretaries' relevant emphasis on greater MHPAEA enforcement and discusses the significant resources dedicated to supporting these efforts. Click here to access the report. Former Congressman and co-sponsor of MHPAEA, Patrick J. Kennedy, commented on the report. As quoted by The Kennedy Forum, Kennedy said, "A new report from the Department of Labor (DOL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Department of the Treasury provides damning evidence that health plans continue to be out of compliance with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which requires them to cover mental health and addiction treatment no more restrictively than physical health treatment. Shockingly, not a single plan satisfied the Act's requirement to complete detailed parity compliance analyses. And we now have solid data to show that practices such as denying coverage for autism treatment, nutritionists for individuals with eating disorders, and Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder are indeed commonplace." Click here to read more on this from former Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy. |
