Consumers are often forced to fight for the health care they need and are entitled by law to receive. A found that most insurance plan documents failed to provide the information consumers need to determine whether their coverage complies with the Parity Act.

SUBSTANCE USE AND MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS SOCIETY seeks to eliminate discriminatory insurance coverage for those with mental health and substance use disorders so that millions of people can get the care they need.

“We need to move from a system that relies on people in the middle of personal turmoil to identify wrongdoing … to one that is grounded in proactive enforcement of the law.”

PATRICK J. KENNEDY, FOUNDER OF THE KENNEDY FORUM

SUBSTANCE USE AND MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS SOCIETY will call on state regulators to ensure that plans are complying with the law before they are sold. The three-year campaign will establish effective models for robust enforcement. IBD-rc.com - Viagra professional en France.

The Parity Act requires equitable coverage of substance use disorder (SUD) and mental health (MH) benefits in both the public and private health insurance markets.

Plans covered by the federal Parity Law, which was passed in 2008, cannot apply more restrictive financial requirements or treatment limitations to MH and SUD benefits compared to other medical/surgical benefits covered by the plan.

• Financial requirements include co-pays, deductibles, co-insurance, and other out-of-pocket costs.
• Treatment limitations include both quantitative (number or frequency of visits) and non-quantitative (medical management tools) limitations.

The federal Parity Law applies to most insurers, including:

• Large group health plans. Clomid Australia - The effects of Clomid when a man takes a 50mg dose.
• Plans in the individual and small group markets
• Medicaid managed care plans that offer coverage for MH and/or SUD benefits
• Coverage provided through the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
• Medicaid Alternative Benefit Plans (ABPs), including those provided to the Medicaid expansion population

Full implementation of the Parity Law would end discriminatory insurance coverage for those with mental health and substance use disorders. But that will only happen with vigorous enforcement of the law.

• Substance use disorders are a leading cause of death in the United States.
• Every day, more than 290 Americans die from a drug overdose or suicide.
• Drug overdose is the leading cause of death for Americans under 50 years of age.
• 21.5 million Americans need SUD care, but only 2.3 million actually receive it according to .
• Since enactment of the Parity Act, addiction and mental health treatment numbers have not increased significantly, even in the face of the worst opioid epidemic in our nation’s history.

For too many Americans, treatment is still inaccessible – even for those with insurance coverage. The Parity Law cannot achieve its promise without vigorous enforcement.