According to the AP (7/25, Megerian, Miller), on July 25, the Biden Administration “announced new rules meant to push insurance companies to increase their coverage of mental health treatments.” These “new regulations, which still need to go through a public comment period, would require insurers to study whether their customers have equal access to medical and mental health benefits and to take remedial action, if necessary.” Were the rules to be finalized, they “would force insurers to study patient outcomes to ensure the benefits are administered equally, taking into account their” clinician “network and reimbursement rates and whether prior authorization is required for care.”
Reuters (7/25, Holland) reports, “The administration…will release the text of a proposed rule change to the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act,” that “would also provide specific examples that make clear that health plans cannot use more restrictive prior authorization, other medical management techniques or narrower networks that make it harder for people to access mental health and substance use disorder benefits.” The proposed rule change text “will be open to public comment for 60 days and administration officials said they expected it would go into effect sometime afterward.”
Related Links:
— “The Biden administration proposes new rules to push insurers to boost mental health coverage,” Zeke Miller and Chris Megerian, AP, July 25, 2023