Promoting Access to Quality, Affordable Addiction Treatment
Challenge
Addiction treatment has been separated from the mainstream health care system, and discriminatory insurance coverage for addiction persists, making effective treatment out of reach for many. The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act requires most insurers to cover mental health and addiction treatment the same way they cover treatment for any other disease, but unequal coverage persists. Stronger requirements and enforcement are needed to increase access to affordable care.
What we did
We conducted research identifying gaps in insurance coverage for addiction benefits in commercial insurance, and found widespread noncompliance with Affordable Care Act and parity requirements and inadequate coverage for addiction benefits.
We published a series of reports, together with Legal Action Center, highlighting key insurance barriers, including 50-state surveys and detailed recommendations to improve insurance coverage.
In 2023, we worked with other leading mental health and addiction advocacy groups to submit comments on a proposed federal rule to improve parity enforcement. We also participated in a campaign to create an online portal allowing individuals to submit comments and personal stories, as well as a stakeholder meeting with federal agencies responsible for parity enforcement.
We also worked with the Department of Labor to share information about their Benefit Advisor resources with our network via webinars, trainings, and social media.
Outcome
Our report focused on state requirements for health plans to submit parity compliance reports and other data, a requirement that was adopted at the federal level in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 and the new parity regulations released in 2024.
The new parity rules were adopted, and the final rules included some of our recommended changes to the proposed rule.
