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Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA)
Practical Law Glossary Item 1-506-5788 (Approx. 3 pages)
Glossary
Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA)
A federal law requiring group health plans and health insurers that offer mental health or substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits to make their treatment limitations and financial requirements no more restrictive than the predominant treatment limitations and financial requirements applied to substantially all medical/surgical benefits. MHPAEA (commonly pronounced "muh-PEA-eh") expanded the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 (MHPA) by requiring parity in aggregate annual or lifetime limits for MH/SUD benefits with limits on medical/surgical benefits.
MHPAEA also applies to out-of-network benefits and was effective for:
- Plan years beginning on or after October 3, 2009.
- Calendar plan years beginning January 1, 2010.
MHPAEA exempts small employers, defined as employers that employed either:
- An average of two to 50 employees on business days in the preceding calendar year.
- One employee on business days in the preceding calendar year if the employer resides in a state that allows small groups to include a single individual.
MHPAEA includes an increased cost exemption for plans that incurred increased costs above a certain threshold because of MHPAEA's parity requirements.
MHPAEA has been the topic of implementing regulations and extensive guidance issued by the Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Treasury.
For more information on MHPAEA compliance, see Mental Health Parity (MHPAEA) Toolkit.