Biden pushes to expand insurance coverage for mental-health care

(Bloomberg) --The White House proposed a set of rules on Tuesday to improve insurance coverage for mental-health conditions, part of a broader plan to fight rising rates of anxiety, depression and other ailments.

The rules would make it harder for insurers to skirt a federal law that requires them to offer the same type of coverage for mental-health issues as for physical ones. The proposals would also expand the reach of the law to state and local government health plans, a change that the White House estimates would affect about 90,000 workers. 

Mental-health disorder rates spiked worldwide during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the World Health Organization, and a recent survey found that an "unprecedented" wave of psychological and substance-abuse issues was overwhelming US cities. Yet a 2021 study showed fewer than half of US adults with a mental illness got treatment, which the White House partly blamed on poor insurance coverage. 

"No one should have to drain their savings or go into debt to get help for themselves or their loved ones," Neera Tanden, White House domestic-policy adviser, said on a call with reporters. 

The proposals clarify requirements under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, a law passed in 2008 and amended in 2020. They call for insurers to study the outcomes of their coverage rules to ensure people have equal access to mental and physical-health benefits. 

The Biden administration also gave examples of practices it wants to end, such as "medical management techniques" that make it difficult for patients to find mental-health services covered by their insurance.

The rules, which are subject to a 60-day public comment period before they go into effect, follow a series of other, similar federal measures. Those include grants to expand access to mental-health services in schools.