Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act Archives

Plan sponsors, insurers, and third-party administrators should pay close attention to the new guidance to facilitate health plan compliance with complex nonquantitative treatment limitation comparative analyses requirements.

On July 25, 2023, the Department of Labor (DOL), Department of the Treasury (Treasury), and Health and Human Services (HHS) (the Departments) issued a proposed rule on how to comply with the nonquantitative treatment limitations (NQTL) comparative analyses requirements enacted under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA). The requirement for health plans to perform and document their comparative analyses of the design and application of NQTLs became effective February 10, 2021, and the DOL has been aggressively enforcing the requirement through extensive, multi-year health plan investigations over the last few years. In addition to the proposed rule, the new guidance issued also includes:

Continue reading “DOL Issues Long Awaited Mental Health Parity Guidance”

As described in a recent blog post, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 amended the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) to require group health plans and health insurance issuers (collectively, “group health plans”) that impose non-quantitative treatment limitations (NQTLs) on mental health or substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits to perform and document comparative analyses, in order to demonstrate that such NQTLs comply with the requirements of the MHPAEA¹. This requirement became effective on February 10, 2021, along with the requirement that a group health plan must provide the comparative analyses to the Department of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), or applicable State authority upon request.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act also directed the DOL, HHS, and the Treasury (together, the “Departments”) to issue additional guidance for group health plans, intended to clarify and provide examples of methods group health plans may implement to comply with the comparative analyses and disclosure obligations.

Continue reading “Departments Release FAQs on Implementing the Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Requirements under the Consolidated Appropriations Act”