SAAS Flash - 6/22/10

Court Decision in Parity Lawsuit

On June 21, the US District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the lawsuit filed by the Coalition for Parity, Inc. against the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury seeking to prevent application of the interim final rules on The Wellstone-Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA).  In her decision, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly stated that the Departments were allowed to issue interim final rules (IFR) in order to expedite the rulemaking process given the short timeframe allowed by the law.  She ruled that the IFR will stand, but stated that it was also her expectation that the Departments should move swiftly to finalize the rules by responding to 4,000+ comments submitted on the IFR and complete the rulemaking process.  Read the full opinion here.

Since the regulations are in effect, and apply generally to plans beginning on or after July 1st, we expect that plans will begin to modify their requirements to comply with the interim final rules.  The Coalition for Whole Health will continue to communicate with the Departments  to discuss enforcement, as well as carefully monitoring the field for plans which are not in compliance.