The Trump administration weighs the rule of mental health parity

Diving brief:

• The Trump Administration will not apply a regulation of the Biden era designed to improve access to mental health and drug addiction for people with private insurance – and can completely cancel directives, said lawyers for the US Ministry of Justice in a court last week.
• The announcement comes in the midst of a legal battle between a group of employers, the Erisa Industry Committee and the HHS on the rule, which was finalized in September. The group of employers argued that the rules were too expensive and that the compliance requirements could turn against him, which means that more patients lose care.
• The DoJ said that it will issue a “non-application policy” for parties of the rule which has entered into force this year and “will re-examine the current of departments [Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act] Application program more broadly. »»

Diving insight:

An increasing set of data suggests that Americans find it difficult to access mental health care, despite the 2008 Mental health parity law and drug addiction that covers mental health and substances consumption care to cover mental health services at the same level as physical health care.

The challenges include a lack of network suppliers and previous authorization obstacles. Critics say that insurers play a role by not quickly updating supplier networks, which makes it more difficult to connect with suppliers.

Consequently, from last year, insured people were almost four times more likely to leave the network for mental health care than physical health care and pay higher costs for care, according to an international RTI report. Others report entirely.

The rule of the Biden era requires that private health plans regularly evaluate their supplier networks, their off -network payment rates and their use management processes to ensure parity between mental and physical health care.

However, the rule was criticized by paid groups and the ERISA industry committee, which represents major employers who offer health, retirement and paid holiday services.

“Instead of extending the workforce or significantly improving access to mental health support, the final rule will complicate the compliance so much that it will be impossible to operationalize, which will lead to results for more worse patients,” AHIP, Association of Behavioral Health and Wellness, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and the Erisa Committee in September.

The Erisa Industry Committee continued to challenge the regulations in January. Now the Trump administration seems to consider the concerns of payers.

The DOJ asked the American District Court that the Columbia district interrupted disputes while he was examining the directives. The DoJ said that he had provided the employers’ group’s advice from his decision to examine the directives on April 25.

Erisa industry The committee applauded the stay on Monday.

“Despite in -depth efforts to work with the previous administration, the requirements of final rules are fully impassable, and disputes have become the only way to protect employees and their access to affordable quality advantages,” said president and chief executive officer James Gelfand in a press release. “We are delighted that the Trump administration has responded to the trial, will not penalize employers under the rule while the case is underway and reconsiders the rule to respond to concerns [The ERISA Industry Committee] expressed throughout the regulatory process. »»