<nobr>May 17, 2010</nobr>

ERIC May 26th FocusOn Conference Call to Review Mental Health Parity Regulations

The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury published interim final regulations in the Federal Register on February 2, 2010, implementing the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA).

In general, the Act requires parity between mental health or substance-use disorder benefits and medical/surgical benefits with respect to financial requirements and treatment limitations under group health plans and health insurance coverage offered in connection with a group health plan.

MHPAEA applies to employers with 50 or more workers whose group health plans choose to offer mental health or substance-use disorder benefits. The interim final regulations became effective April 5, 2010, and generally apply to group health plans and group health insurance issuers for plan years beginning on or after July 1, 2010.

ERIC recently submitted comments arguing, among other things, that the interim final regulations create an unprecedented and unacceptable new aggregation rule, and that the Department should continue to rely on the anti-abuse rule proposed in 2004, which requires the aggregation of separate plans only to the extent necessary to prevent evasion of the parity requirements.

ERIC needs member input to gain a better understanding of the impact of the regulations and problem areas for members. ERIC has scheduled a FocusOn conference call for Wednesday, May 26, from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM (EDT).

Amy Moore, who chairs the employee benefits and executive compensation practice at Covington & Burling LLP, will be the subject matter expert on the call.

The call will feature a "moderated" discussion, where Amy will provide an overview of the "problem areas" in the regulation and be available for technical questions. The call will also feature an interchange among call participants to exchange ideas on the compliance strategies of their companies with respect to the mental health regulation.

To participate in this conference call, RSVP by writing to ericconfcall@eric.org and you will receive an automated response with the call information.

For your reference, below is a copy of ERIC's May 3 comment letter on the interim final mental health parity regulation.

Questions or comments on the regulation or on the call should be addressed to either Gretchen Young, gyoung@eric.org, or Adam Solander, asolander@eric.org.


Websites:

ERIC Comment Letter

Interim Final Regulations

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