Regulations Under the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008

Elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register, the IRS is issuing temporary regulations under the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA). MHPAEA prohibits group health plans providing mental health or substance use disorder benefits along with medical/surgical benefits from imposing more restrictive financial requirements or treatment limitations with respect to the mental health or substance use disorder benefits than the predominant ones imposed with respect to substantially all medical/surgical benefits. The IRS is issuing the temporary regulations at the same time that the Employee Benefits Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are issuing substantially similar interim final regulations with respect to MHPAEA for group health plans and issuers of health insurance coverage offered in connection with a group health plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Public Health Service Act. The temporary regulations provide guidance to employers and group health plans relating to the group health plan mental health and substance use disorder parity requirements. The text of those temporary regulations also serves as the text of these proposed regulations. This document also withdraws the notice of proposed rulemaking relating to mental health parity requirements for group health plans that was published on December 22, 1997 (REG-109704- 97, 62 FR 66967).

Agency Contact: Concerning the regulations, Russ Weinheimer at 202-622-6080; concerning submissions of comments, Richard.A.Hurst@irscounsel.treas.gov, 202-622-7180 (not toll-free numbers).