AHIP Pledges to Step Up Mental Health Parity Compliance

The federal government and patient advocates have directed withering criticism regarding behavioral health coverage toward health plans in recent months. AHIP, the health insurance industry’s largest trade group, responded this week with a statement from its board emphasizing its commitment to equitable access to mental health benefits. 

In January, the federal agencies that regulate health plans published a biannual report which found that health insurers have systematically failed to document the level of mental health care access they provide to members. That documentation is part of a yearslong federal effort to make plans comply with mental health care parity laws, which stipulate that health plans are not allowed to impose benefit limitations — non-quantitative treatment limits (NQTLs) — on mental health care that are more severe than limits placed on medical and surgical benefits.