President Biden said Tuesday he will require insurers to put mental health care on par with physical health benefits and make changes if they are not meeting this goal.
A bipartisan 2008 law required parity between mental and physical care but those seeking mental health care are still forced to pay out-of-pocket or go out-of-network for services at higher rates, according to the administration.
Mr. Biden said that’s going to stop.
“I don’t know what the difference between breaking your arm and having a mental breakdown is — it’s health, there’s no distinction. It’s health,” he said from the White House East Room.
Mental health care, he said, is “essential to people’s well-being and their ability to lead a full and production life.”
The administration will issue rules that require health plans to evaluate the outcomes of their coverage rules to ensure that people have equal access between their mental health and medical benefits.
Moving forward, insurers must disclose whether they are providing mental health services within their networks, and tabulate how often they deny care or require doctors to seek extra authorization before rendering services.
“Right now, many health plans don’t collect data. Under my administration’s new plan, they will be required to collect that data,” Mr. Biden said.
Mr. Biden will also require insurers to explain whether they are offering narrow networks to persons seeking mental health care than those seeking physical care, or if they are throwing down extra bureaucratic hurdles.
“Even with private insurance, patients are often forced to seek out-of-network care at a significantly higher cost, if they can find it,” Mr. Biden said.
The administration said while about one in five Americans had a mental illness in 2020, only half of those persons received care. The numbers were worse for those with substance-abuse disorders, with one in 10 getting treatment.
Administration officials pointed to a family in Michigan that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to treat their son’s depression and anxiety because they could not acquire specialized care close to their home, and a mom in Rhode Island who had to prepare additional paperwork for her daughter because, initially, a private insurer denied her treatment.
Mr. Biden also said Tuesday he will close a “loophole” in which the 2008 law, the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, did not apply to non-federal government plans for state and local government employees.
The extension of protections will cover 200 extra health plans with 90,000 members, according to the administration.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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