Enforcing Mental Health Parity: Progress and Challenges

Last fall, Health Affairs published “Enforcing Mental Health Parity.” The health policy brief may no longer be hot off the press, but it’s still very relevant. The seven-page paper offers an excellent snapshot of how far we’ve come as a nation in addressing mental health parity—and how much we have left to do to ensure that it becomes a reality for the millions of Americans who suffer from mental health and substance use conditions.

The Health Affairs paper outlines congressional action from the 1996 Mental Health Parity Act (MHPA) to the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It then looks at the ongoing challenges of enforcement and various class-action lawsuits that have been filed on behalf of patients for parity violations, including New York State Psychiatric Association, Inc. et al. v. UnitedHealthGroup et al.

“While there have been some improvements since the law passed, access to timely, in-network mental health and substance use providers remains a problem,” states the brief.

We agree.