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As of January 1, 2010, the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 will align mental health/substance abuse (MHSA) benefits and medical/surgical benefits for group health plans with more than 50 employees.
Under this new law, members across the country will have the right to non-discriminatory mental health coverage. The law will help bring equality between mental health/substance use disorders and medical/surgical benefits for group health plans.
What does the Mental Health Parity Act Do:
- Equity coverage will apply to all financial requirements, including
 deductibles, co-payments, coinsurance, and out of pocket expenses, and to all treatment limitations, including frequency of treatment, number of visits, days of coverage, or other similar limits.
- This new law builds on the current 1996 parity law, which already requires coverage for annual and lifetime dollar limits.
- Mental health and substance use disorder benefits are defined broadly to mean benefits with respect to services for mental health conditions and substance use disorders, as defined under the terms of the plan and in accordance with applicable Federal and State law.
- A plan may not apply separate cost sharing requirements or treatment limitations to mental health and substance use disorder benefits.
- If your employer offers two or more benefit packages, the requirements of this Act will be applied separately to each package
- As under the current federal parity law, mental health or substance use benefit coverage is not mandated. However, if a plan offers such coverage, it must be provided at parity in accordance with this Act.
If you have any questions on how the Mental Health Parity Act affects your benefits with the Employee Benefit Trust, please contact our customer service department at 800.807.0400. |
