Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 Assessment
In 2008, Congress passed the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA). The MHPAEA requires insurers and plans to guarantee that all financial requirements (i.e., deductibles, co-pays), as well as caps and limitations on benefits, be no more restrictive for mental health (MH) services than for medical and surgical counterpart coverages under the same plan.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) built upon the MHPAEA by including MH services as an essential health benefit (EHB) and mandating that parity rules apply to individual and small group markets. On March 30, 2016, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized the MH and substance use disorder (SUD) parity rule for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) effective May 31, 2016.
This report presents South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS)' analysis of the State's Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program's compliance with the MHPAEA and the ACA.