On January 29, 2009, the Departments of Labor, HHS, and Treasury released interim final regulations (also proposed to be made permanent) under the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA). See 75 Fed. Reg. 5409 (Feb. 2, 2010). As explained in a previous client alert , “Recent Legislation Affects the Definition of Dependent and Mental Health and Substance Abuse Benefits Parity Under Group Health Plans”3, MHPAEA significantly expanded the parity requirements for mental health and substance abuse benefits that existed under prior law. The regulations interpret the new requirements broadly. Among other things, they require deductibles to accumulate on a consolidated basis for mental health/substance abuse benefits and medical/surgical benefits. The regulations are scheduled to apply to group health plans and group health insurance issuers for plan years beginning on or after July 1, 2010, and, unless the regulations are scaled back or the effective date is extended, will require many companies to make significant changes to their health plans and record-keeping systems in a very short period of time.
New rules on mental health parity could require significant plan changes
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