Jul 13, 2022
NAATP continually advocates for greater access to quality care for substance use disorder treatment for all Americans. One of the greatest opportunities to accomplish this is the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (Parity). As our members know all too well, that law has never been adequately enforced, so the promise of greater access to care is still far from a reality.
Congress is at last considering a tool that will move enforcement of this critical law forward. The US House of Representatives passed legislation including language that would give the Department of Labor the authority to levy financial penalties on insurance companies who fail to comply with the requirements of the Parity law. Without that authority the Department of Labor has little authority to enforce Parity.
The US Senate is now considering the possibility of including that authority in the reconciliation bill being assembled in the next few days. We need your help to encourage that language be included in the pending bill.
Since this is an unusual procedural process, only Democratic Senators will be making the decisions about what is included in the legislation. If it passes, it will be with only Democratic votes.
If you have a Democratic US Senator from your state, please contact them. You may find them here.
Let your Senator know that it’s time to level the playing field and make sure the Parity Law, passed by Congress, is enforced. Ask them to include language providing the Department of Labor authority to fine insurance companies who so far have been ignoring the law.
This could be a major turning point in our goal of creating greater access to care. Please help us achieve it by contacting your Democratic Senator.
