Delegate Pete Hammen, Chair of the House of Delegates Health and Government Operations Committee has always been a strong supporter of mental health and substance use disorder parity. Upon requests of behavioral health advocates he sponsored HB1001, Health Insurance- Federal and State Mental Health and Addiction Parity Laws- Report on Compliance, ( fact sheet) which would have required nonexempt insurance carriers to demonstrate their compliance with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. Unfortunately, after multiple meetings stakeholders (advocates, MIA, and insurance carriers) were still unable to come to a legislative compromise that would have ensured compliance with MHPAEA.
Chairman Hammen decided against re-introducing legislation in the 2014 legislative session. Instead he sent a Letter Dated December 3, 2013 to the Maryland Insurance Commissioner, Therese Goldsmith, requesting that MIA use its authority and perform market conduct examinations to ascertain carriers compliance with MHPAEA Final Rule issued November 2013. Chairman Hammen also requested that MIA work with the behavioral health advocates to ensure that the market conduct reviews use the appropriate national standards to measure compliance.
The Maryland Parity Project, the Mental Health Association of Maryland, the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence-Maryland, and the University of Maryland Law School Drug Policy Clinic are excited to work with the MIA in 2014 in preparation for the market conduct exams to be undertaken in 2015. By waiting until 2015, the MIA will be assessing compliance with the MHPAEA Final Rule, which affirms all the consumer protections in the Interim Final Rule and clarifies the disclosure and transparency requirements. Advocates are hopeful that the US Department of Labor will issue further guidance on this issue as they recently requested comments on transparency and disclosure requirements.
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