Solving The Parity Puzzle

Nearly two decades after Congress passed the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (Parity Act), its future enforcement currently is in limbo. Federal rule remains (without a critical update), but states also are passing their own laws and fining insurers while they wait (see 8 Things To Know About Mental Health Parity’s Uncertain Future).

This saga started in 2008, when the Parity Act was put into law, requiring insurers to cover behavioral health benefits with no more restrictive limits than those applied to medical services. This entailed both financial requirements (e.g., copayments and deductibles) and nonquantitative limits . . .