A Review of State Efforts to Enforce Mental Health Parity

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) was enacted to remove insurance-related obstacles to mental health and substance use disorder treatment, but inadequate compliance has raised questions about health plan enrollees’ ability to access these crucial services. This brief focuses on enforcement of parity requirements for “non-quantitative” treatment limits that insurers impose on enrollees, such as prior authorization requirements and medical necessity determinations.