The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA) amended the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) to provide additional protections. On April 2, 2021, the DOL, Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Treasury jointly issued FAQs to clarify these amendments.
In particular, the CAA requires group health plans and health insurance issuers to conduct comparative analyses of the non-quantitative treatment limitations (NQTLs) used for medical and surgical benefits as compared to mental health and substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits.
The comparative analyses, and certain other information, must be made available upon request to applicable agencies beginning Feb. 10, 2021.
The FAQs address the following:
- When plans and issuers must make their NQTL comparative analyses available;
- What information plans and issuers must make available;
- Reasons why documentation of comparative analyses of NQTLs might be insufficient;
- What types of documentation should be made available; and
- What actions the Departments might take for noncompliance. Read More
