May 12, 2025
Mental Health America is deeply disappointed that the Administration has decided it will rescind or modify the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) rules finalized in September of 2024, rather than defend them in court. The new rules were designed to improve access to care and strengthen transparency requirements added by an amendment to the law President Trump signed in 2020.
We are also concerned that in the same court filing announcing this intention, the Administration stated that it plans to “reexamine the Departments’ current MHPAEA enforcement program more broadly.”
Congress passed the amendment to the law in 2020 with strong bipartisan support, responding to widespread concerns that health plans and insurers were violating the law, greatly hindering access to care, and contributing to rising suicide and overdose death rates.
The Departments’ enforcement program in the years since has confirmed that these concerns were well founded. In its 2022 report to Congress, the Departments identified 21 types of violations—not just 21 violations, but 21 different categories of noncompliance. These included exclusions of nutritional counseling for eating disorders, medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorders, and partial hospitalization for mental health conditions, among many others. The most recent annual reports to Congress have shown little improvement from plans and insurers.
Weakening or rescinding the new parity rules and dialing back enforcement will undermine access to lifesaving, life-restoring mental health and substance use disorder treatment for millions of Americans.
The country’s mental health crisis continues to worsen, and the opioid epidemic is still devastating families and communities. The appropriate response to these twin crises must include strong parity rules and rigorous parity enforcement.
When the Administration asked for comments on the 2024 rules, they heard from American families struggling with mental health and addiction, frustrated by provider networks that look good on paper but offer no real access to care. Some shared stories of risking their own financial security to pay providers because insurers denied coverage for their loved ones’ urgently needed treatment.
We urge the Administration to consider the real hardships faced by these families as it determines next steps for parity, to keep the foundations of the new rules in place, and to keep working with health plans and insurers to stop ongoing violations.
As part of the court proceedings, the Administration met with the plaintiffs to discuss these proposed changes. We strongly encourage them to also listen to those who are still unable to access the care they need.
Despite our deep concerns, Mental Health America remains committed to working with the Departments to ensure all Americans can access the mental health and substance use care they need and deserve.