labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Here’s news regarding a ruling that affects all employers whose health plans include mental health benefits.

Many Wyoming employees will be happy to learn that a bill requiring that mental health benefit limits equal those for surgery and other medical procedures has been extended again, this time until the end of 2007.

The extension of the Mental Health Parity Act, known as the MHPA, will have a major impact on Wyoming employee benefit packages. Nationwide, it applies to more than 150 million employees.

The law is the Mental Health Parity Act, or MHPA, passed originally in 1996, and was just extended through the ruling by the U.S. Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) through December 31, 2007.

Mental health treatment includes the following:

• Visits to a psychologist, licensed therapist, or psychiatrist.
• Stays in rehabilitation facilities for drug or alcohol dependencies.
• Stays in mental hospitals or the mental health sections of hospitals for such ailments as schizophrenia, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The law does not mandate that all health insurance plans include treatment for mental health. What it requires is that, if an existing health plan already includes mental health benefits, those benefits cannot have a lower limit on payments than those for medical and surgical treatment. 

To be legal, a health plan that puts a $250,000 limit, for example, on medical and surgical treatment must put the same maximum lifetime benefit on mental health care. Before passage of the original MHPA in 1996, coverage could have a quarter of a million dollar limit on medical care but only $15,000 on mental health care. Annual cops are covered by the same regulation. The annual or lifetime caps must be equal for either kind of treatment.

The ruling by EBSA was released without attention. In essence, it continues the MHPA through the end of 2007. The MHPA has been amended five times to extend its original “sunset clause” expiration date beyond September 31, 2001.

Here’s news regarding a ruling that affects all employers whose health plans include mental health benefits.

Many Wyoming employees will be happy to learn that a bill requiring that mental health benefit limits equal those for surgery and other medical procedures has been extended again, this time until the end of 2007.

The extension of the Mental Health Parity Act, known as the MHPA, will have a major impact on Wyoming employee benefit packages. Nationwide, it applies to more than 150 million employees.

The law is the Mental Health Parity Act, or MHPA, passed originally in 1996, and was just extended through the ruling by the U.S. Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) through December 31, 2007.

Mental health treatment includes the following:

• Visits to a psychologist, licensed therapist, or psychiatrist.
• Stays in rehabilitation facilities for drug or alcohol dependencies.
• Stays in mental hospitals or the mental health sections of hospitals for such ailments as schizophrenia, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The law does not mandate that all health insurance plans include treatment for mental health. What it requires is that, if an existing health plan already includes mental health benefits, those benefits cannot have a lower limit on payments than those for medical and surgical treatment.

To be legal, a health plan that puts a $250,000 limit, for example, on medical and surgical treatment must put the same maximum lifetime benefit on mental health care. Before passage of the original MHPA in 1996, coverage could have a quarter of a million dollar limit on medical care but only $15,000 on mental health care. Annual cops are covered by the same regulation. The annual or lifetime caps must be equal for either kind of treatment.

The ruling by EBSA was released without attention. In essence, it continues the MHPA through the end of 2007. The MHPA has been amended five times to extend its original “sunset clause” expiration date beyond September 31, 2001.