“We applaud the Obama administration and the Task Force Co-Chairs, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Michael Botticelli and Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council Cecilia Muñoz, for their dedication to ensuring equal coverage of and meaningful access to mental health and substance use disorder (MH and SUD) care through strong implementation and enforcement of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). Access to mental health care is critically important to reducing the rising suicide rate in America. In light of the nation’s opioid crisis, strong enforcement of the Parity Act is critical to ensuring better access to life-saving substance use disorder care. The report released last week bolsters work to improve access to care in important ways by, among many other recommendations and initiatives, directing $9.3 million to states to strengthen implementation of the Parity Act, providing additional technical assistance to state regulators to improve parity compliance in commercial insurance and Medicaid, and taking important initial steps to both strengthen consumer rights to detailed information about why their insurance claims are denied, and to simplify the complaint process for consumers.
However, much additional work remains to help individuals and families who need mental health and substance use disorder care realize the full promise of MHPAEA. We call on the federal government to implement not only the Task Force’s excellent recommendations, but to also undertake the following critically important actions:
Issue additional guidance detailing what constitutes adequate disclosure......
Require prospective parity compliance reviews....
Streamline the consumer complaint and appeals process....
Issue guidance identifying plan standards that violate the law.,,,