3 Takeaways from EBSA's New Health Parity Guidance Docs

Employee benefits attorney Stacy Hooper was quoted in a Law360 article describing new guidance from the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) regarding parity in health plan coverage between behavioral health and physical healthcare benefits. The federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, passed in 2008, prohibits employer health plans from limiting coverage for mental health and substance use disorder treatment more than for medical or surgical care. EBSA's field assistance bulletin and accompanying document released last week explain how the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) will approach enforcement of the law's obligations and outlines several potential compliance issues. Practitioners including Stacy praised the publication's utility, and she highlighted the practical examples featured in the guidance, such as mentions of "red flags" that might trigger a DOL investigation or details about what regulators expect from service providers and third-party administrators (TPAs) when it comes to employee benefit plans.

"The DOL is clear that they're not backing away from enforcement priorities here, but to me, this document reads more like compliance assistance than some of the prior guidance did," she said.

READ: 3 Takeaways from EBSA's New Health Parity Guidance Docs (Subscription required)