The American Medical Association (AMA), working with other organizations, has developed an online Mental Health Parity Index that is designed to evaluate commercial insurance plans based upon their coverage for, and access to, mental health/substance use disorder (SUD) services compared to medical services. This tool will facilitate more transparency into whether these plans have fulfilled the parity requirements established by the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) announced a nonenforcement policy with regard to new regulations under MHPAEA that otherwise went into effect as early as January 2025, one of the purposes of which was to establish a “meaningful benefits” requirement for plans offering mental health/SUD services.
