Mental Health Parity at a Crossroads
More than 25 years after the first federal mental health parity protections were put in place, adequate coverage for behavioral health (BH) care – including both mental health and substance use conditions –remains elusive for many consumers with health insurance. 1 Federal BH parity rules require health plans that offer BH coverage to ensure that financial requirements (such as deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, and out-of-pocket limits) and treatment limits (such as day and visit limits as well as nonquantitative limits on benefits such as prior authorization) on these benefits are no more restrictive than those on medical and surgical benefits. The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened awareness and exacerbated existing challenges in BH. Strengthening BH parity protections is just one part of a larger policy discussion that includes addressing the BH workforce shortage, rising BH treatment needs among children and youth, an inadequate healthcare infrastructure to address thos