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- A Bit of Mental Health Parity Relief for Employers Sponsoring Group Health Plans
- Departments’ Nonenforcement Policy
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On May 15, 2025, the Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services issued their anticipated nonenforcement policy regarding the 2024 Mental Health Parity regulations. As expected, nonenforcement is applicable “only with respect to those portions of the 2024 Final Rule that are new in relation to the 2013 final rule.” (Emphasis added.) The Departments reiterated that “MHPAEA’s statutory obligations, as amended by the CAA, 2021, continue to have effect.” Thus, the requirement to perform and document comparative analyses of health plans’ nonquantitative treatment limitations remains in effect, but the requirement for a plan fiduciary to certify that it complied with its fiduciary duties in selecting and monitoring a service provider to perform and document the comparative analyses will not be enforced until future notice. Also, specific content requirements that weren’t already set out in the statute or prior regulations won’t be enforced until future notice.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the statement for group health plan sponsors (especially those with plans under investigation) relates to the Departments’ intention to “undertake a broader reexamination of each department’s respective enforcement approach under MHPAEA, including those provisions amended by the CAA, 2021.” The Department of Labor has been accused of overreaching in its enforcement investigations, for example, by citing plans for failing to meet specific comparative analysis content requirements before those requirements were known. While it remains to be seen how the nonenforcement policy might affect open investigations, the Departments encourage plans to continue to rely on the prior regulations and subregulatory guidance. Plans should be alert to any updates the Departments make to subregulatory guidance.
