A 2008 law banned private insurance companies from putting more restrictions on access to behavioral health care than their threshold to unlock medical or surgical benefits.
The Biden administration moved this week to strengthen parity because it says people struggling with mental health still face greater barriers to treatment.
Three executive-branch departments pitched rules aimed at making it as easy to get insurance-approval for addiction treatment as a knee replacement.
Dr. Michael Franczak with Copa Health said roadblocks to parity have been a shortage of psychiatrists and insurance companies are for-profit.
“And mental health care, depending on the seriousness of the illness, can be expensive.”
Franczak’s decades of work in mental health mean the feds sometimes rely on his expertise. He was still surprised by the force behind the new push to achieve balance.
“But it’s been coming.”
Because, he said, mass-shootings, the pandemic and families going broke while trying to help a loved one have all raised awareness about the need for mental health care.
