Moving beyond Parity – Mental Health and Addiction Care under the ACA

Enactment of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act in 2008 was the culmination of a decades-long effort to improve insurance coverage for mental health and addiction treatment. The law’s passage constituted a critical first step toward bringing care for people with mental health and addiction disorders including depression, anxiety, psychoses, and substance abuse and dependence into the mainstream of the U.S. medical care system by requiring parity in coverage (i.e., equivalent benefits for mental health and substance abuse, often referred to collectively as “behavioral health,” services and all other medical and surgical services). Now, the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has the potential to affect the financing and delivery of mental health and addiction care even more profoundly. PMC ID: PMC3359059 (September 15, 2011)