Dive Brief:
- On Monday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed a new rule that would expand the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act to include Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) beneficiaries.
- MHPAEA requires that people with mental health or addiction disorders receive benefits coverage that is equal to coverage provided to those with physical illnesses.
- According to Modern Healthcare, the proposed rule would affect around 21.6 million Medicare beneficiaries and about 850,000 CHIP beneficiaries. It would not apply to fee-for-service Medicaid plans.
Dive Insight:
“It's significant," Timothy Jost, a professor at the Washington and Lee University School of Law told The Wall Street Journal. "The mental health parity law preceded the ACA and it's an issue people have been battling about for some time. A significant number of people with mental health problems are on Medicaid."
According to Kaiser Health News, Emily Feinstein, Director of Health Law and Policy at Substance Abuse and Addiction Center CASAColumbia, said the parity rule "will not be enough to overcome all of the barriers that patients face in accessing care, including an insufficient number of in-network providers."