Compliance June 1, 2004

Mental Health Parity Law Extended

January 30, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The protections under the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 (MHPA) have been extended until December 31, 2002, the Department of Labor (DoL) announced.

Reported by

Fred Schneyer

The original sunset date was September 30, 2001.

The MHPA requires that group health plans offer as much coverage for mental health treatment as they do for medical and surgical benefits.

The DoL press release said the Labor Department, the Health and Human Services Department and the US Treasury are preparing a guidance memo for the new MHPA sunset date.