Hot Report: Mental Health Parity

OLR Report 2013-R-0086 answers a number of questions regarding related to health insurance coverage for mental health services payable on the same basis as coverage for other medical conditions, commonly referred to as “mental health parity.”

The questions include:

• Does Connecticut have a mental health parity law?
• Is there a federal mental health parity law?
• What are the main differences between the state and federal parity laws?
• Does the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act affect mental health parity?
• Does state or federal law specify cost-sharing requirements for mental health services?
• Aside from insurance coverage, what are other barriers to accessing mental health services?

For the answers to these questions, read the full report.