Washington - Business Roundtable today welcomed the Trump Administration’s decision to halt enforcement of mental health parity regulations, which presented serious compliance challenges for both the U.S. government and employers and were counterproductive to the underlying law’s purported goal.
“Business Roundtable members are committed to offering high quality mental health benefits and care to our employees and their families,” said Blake Moret, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rockwell Automation and Chair of the Business Roundtable Health & Retirement Committee. “We look forward to working with the Trump Administration and other stakeholders to comply with federal laws while continuing to provide these life-saving benefits for our employees.”
In a lawsuit challenging the final regulations to further implement the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA), the Trump Administration announced that it will halt enforcement of the 2024 regulation and develop other policy and regulatory options for MHPAEA compliance. Business Roundtable previously urged policymakers to issue clarifying guidance on mental health parity laws.
Business Roundtable remains concerned that the final rule creates significant operational challenges and will take away resources that companies are currently using to expand mental health benefits to their employees. According to final rule, just collecting and evaluating the required data on health outcomes and documentation of non-quantitative treatment limitations (NQTLs) will cost $656.2 million in the first year and $131.2 million in subsequent years, which is significantly higher than the estimates included in the proposed rule.
Business Roundtable members recognize that employers play an important role in providing mental health and substance use disorder (MH/SUD) coverage and care. In 2020, 90 percent of employers provided employee assistance programs for mental health services and 86 percent provided mental health coverage. Employers are prioritizing access to meaningful MH/SUD care for their employees by providing a broad set of tools, such as employee assistance programs, comprehensive health benefits, direct access to care, and community-based programs. In addition, plans and issuers are actively working to help expand coverage and connect patients with the right providers.
Learn more about the Business Roundtable Mental Health Initiative, an effort that provides Roundtable member companies with resources, training and other tools to complement their existing efforts to support employee mental health.