Healthcare associate Jessica T. Osterlof co-authored the expert analysis article “Biden Admin's Mental Health Proposal May Not Be Enough” for Law360, published on September 21, 2023. The article discusses the changes proposed by the Biden administration to the federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act to “strengthen mental and physical health parity requirements and improve mental health care access,” particularly with regard to the coverage gap and availability of services. The article suggests that these changes may be insufficient, due to regulatory enforcement issues, the lack of providers, and rate issues with regard to parity for telehealth services.
The article notes that the proposed rule would require more than 200 state and local government plans to comply with the statute, providing protection to approximately 90,000 individuals. The proposal also aims to ensure comparable payment for mental health care professionals in the hope that this will incentivize more people to join the mental health workforce.
The article says, “To ensure these laws are enforced, providers must be diligent in identifying when the laws are not being followed and must notify the relevant agencies. In turn, the relevant agencies should investigate and pursue legitimate complaints raised by providers.”
The article also provides statistics on the current state of mental health and substance abuse treatment, and includes discussion of mental health parity laws, the current insurance framework, and telemedicine.
For the full article, go to Law360 on Biden Mental Health Proposal.
