Abstract
[This is an excerpt.] The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration is dedicated to ensuring all Americans have access to mental health and substance use disorder benefits, but this past year we’ve been particularly busy. In fact, we’ve undertaken more mental health parity investigations than we have in previous fiscal years on the parity requirements. This increase is no accident: We’re purposefully ramping up our efforts to ensure everyone gets the mental health and substance use disorder care they are entitled to under the law. As a federal agency tasked with enforcing the mental health parity law, we’re uniquely positioned to help millions of Americans who depend on their health plans for access to these benefits—and we take the responsibility seriously. In short, this means more proactive enforcement than what plans and issuers may have become accustomed to. The recently passed Consolidated Appropriations Act provided a new, important enforcement tool and additional resources which helps EBSA in our mission to facilitate greater parity in mental health and substance use disorder benefits. All of these efforts are highlighted in a new report to Congress released today. The report summarizes the actions we’ve taken to implement and enforce these new mental health parity requirements and sets the stage for what’s to come in our enforcement program. [To read more, click View Resource.]
This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Government: Ensuring Workers' Physical and Mental Health (Support Workers' and Learners' Mental Health & Well-Being).
