Insurance parity for mental health services

From the Office of the Insurance Commissioner

New enhanced standards and tools for measuring parity between mental health and medical and surgical benefits takes effect Dec. 18, 2014.

“Washington state has been a leader in ensuring mental health coverage for consumers,” said Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler. 

“This new rule gives us one more set of tools to make sure insurers are living up to their promises and that people are getting fair access to the mental health services they need.”

The rule aligns state and federal mental health parity laws and creates clear standards or formulas for health insurers to show the Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) how they are delivering mental health services and substance use disorder treatments compared to medical and surgical benefits.