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Mental Health Parity And Addiction Equity Act

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The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) was enacted on October 3, 2008 as sections 511 and 512 of the Tax Extenders and Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008. MHPAEA amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act), and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (Federal Register, 2013). The MHPAEA is an extension of the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996, which prohibited annual or aggregate lifetime financial limits on mental health coverage by addressing other restrictions, such as limits on outpatient visits or inpatient days (DOL, 2010). MHPAEA expands parity requirements to treatment limitations, financial requirements, and in- and out-of-network covered benefits (Smaldone, 2010). It also expands the opportunity of mental health parity requirements at the federal level and includes substance use disorders within its scope. Prior to 1996, health insurance coverage for mental illness had historically been less generous than that of other physical illness (Sarata, 2011). Mental health parity is a response to this disparity in insurance coverage, and generally refers to the concept that health insurance coverage for mental health services should be offered equally with covered medical and surgical benefits (Smaldone, 2010).
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) applies to organizations with fifty or more employees that offer group health insurance

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