Congress passed the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act that requires large group health plans (51 employees or more across the United States) to provide the same treatment limits and financial requirements for mental health and substance use disorder services as they do for medical and surgical services.
As a result, beginning on your group's renewal date, on or after July 1, 2010, the following mental health and substance abuse disorder benefits will have the same member liability (copayments, coinsurance and deductibles) as your medical and surgical benefits:
- Inpatient coverage for mental health diagnoses
- Outpatient coverage for mental health diagnoses
- Partial hospitalization coverage for mental health diagnoses
- Pharmacological management coverage for mental health diagnoses
- Inpatient detoxification coverage
- Outpatient substance abuse rehabilitation
- Inpatient substance abuse rehabilitation