Excerpt: In summary, if your health plan provides more restrictive coverage for mental health care (i.e., depression, schizophrenia or eating disorders) or substance use disorder (i.e., alcohol or drug abuse) than for the most frequent treatment of physical conditions (i.e., cancer, broken bones or heart disease) the plan will need to adjust its benefits to comply with the new law. If your plan sets limits on hospital inpatient days and outpatient days for mental health or substance abuse, but not substantially for other physical ailments, the plan will need to be amended to provide parity in coverage. In addition, if your plan has separate cost-sharing requirements or treatment limitations applicable to only mental health or substance use disorder benefits, these will need to be eliminated or applied to all benefits equally.

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