Health Benefits Compliance
Introduction to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA)
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) is a federal law that generally prevents group health plans and health insurance issuers that provide mental health or substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits from applying more stringent benefit limitations on those benefits than on medical/surgical (M/S) benefits.
MHPAEA preserves the protections that were originally imposed under the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 (MHPA) and adds additional protections, including the application of parity requirements to substance use disorders as well as to mental health. Final regulations implementing MHPAEA were issued in September 2024, but these are currently on hold indefinitely.
This PDF explains the mental health parity requirements that are currently in effect, and at the end briefly lists the 2024 Final Rule regulatory requirements that are on hold.
