ASAM Supports USDOL Authority To Enforce Parity Act

ASAM and a host of leading New York and national organizations wrote to Senator Chuck Schumer on July 13, 2022, to support civil monetary penalty authority for the US Department of Labor (USDOL) to enforce the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA). It is critical the Senate’s final package includes this authority for the USDOL, which has been included in every version of the Build Back Better Act and will allow the USDOL to more aggressively step in to change plans’ coverage practices, make parity a reality, and increase access to life-saving treatment. Currently, the USDOL has only one investigator per 12,500 plans, and the USDOL’s January report highlighted the need for Congress to amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to provide the USDOL with the ability to strengthen the protections of the MHPAEA.