Sedgwick Healthcare attorney John Seybert authored this article, which was published in the May edition of the ABA's Health eSource.
For more than four decades, lawmakers have struggled to enact laws requiring employee benefit plans to provide mental health treatment benefits to participants subject to the same terms, conditions and limitations as the medical treatment benefits afforded under the same health benefit plan.2 Most attempts at reaching this goal have failed to achieve such parity, particularly with respect to inpatient mental health treatment. The question addressed in this article is whether the enactment of The Mental Health Parity And Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (“MHPAEA”) effective October 3, 20093 and the interim rules released on February 2, 2010, effective April 5, 2010, will finally achieve such parity.