The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury proposed rules to ensure equal access to mental health and substance use disorder care as medical treatments.

The proposed rules seek to protect the rights of people seeking mental health and substance use disorder benefits, aiming to eliminate barriers and provide clear guidance for plans and issuers on compliance with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, according to a July 25 news release.

“In support of the President’s Unity Agenda, we continue to take actions to address the nation’s mental health crisis. We are ensuring that mental health is treated no differently than physical health and people in need of services have equitable access to care," HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in the release.

Despite the statute, consumers still encounter more obstacles when trying to get benefits for mental health and substance use disorder care than they do for medical or surgical benefits, so the departments drew on their collective and individual experiences enforcing the act, working with plans and issuers, as well as state regulators, to formulate their ideas, the release reported.

The draft guidelines made public aim to completely protect the rights of those looking for benefits for mental health and substance use disorders while also giving plans and issuers clear instructions on how to abide by the law's requirements, according to the release.

A technical release was also released by the Department of Labor, in collaboration with the Departments of Health and Human Services and the Treasury, asking for public input on proposed additional data requirements for restrictions relating to the make-up of a health plan's or issuer's network, the release said.

Feedback from the public is sought in order to guide the development of proposed data collection and evaluation requirements for nonquantitative treatment limitations related to network composition, according to the release.

It also solicits feedback on the creation of an enforcement safe harbor for plans and issuers that submit data showing that their networks of providers for mental health and substance use disorders are comparable to networks for medical/surgical providers. In accordance with federal law, the departments also provided the second Comparative Analysis Report to Congress under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act.