Senators press administration on mental health parity

Top Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Health Committee are pressing the Trump administration to implement mental health parity requirements passed by Congress in 2016.

The Treasury Department, Department of Health and Human Services, and Labor Department still have not enforced or acted on provisions in the law that require equal treatment of mental health conditions and substance abuse disorders in insurance plans.

{mosads}Under the 21st Century Cures Act, a massive health-care bill passed in December 2016, the agencies were given one year to issue guidance to employers and insurers to implement parity requirements and an action plan to strengthen enforcement requirements. 

The agencies still have not done this, the senators wrote in a letter led by Senate Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and ranking member Patty Murray (D-Wash.). 

“We urge swift action to implement the parity provisions in Cures,” they wrote. 

The senators ask for responses to their questions by May 1 and a briefing on the implementation for Health Committee members’ staff.

Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), all members of the Health Committee, also signed the letter.