Improving Health Coverage For Mental Health & Substance Use Disorder Patients, Including Compliance With The Federal Mental Health & Substance Use Disorder Parity Provisions

In this report, the federal Department of Labor (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) described its role and activities in enforcing compliance with the federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) among employer-sponsored health plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The DOL enforces compliance only in cases where state insurance commissioners lack authority to investigate or enforce compliance with the federal law. Since 2010, the DOL has completed 1,515 investigations of mental health parity violations, and cited health plans for 171 substantiated violations. About 58% of the violations concerned non . . .