The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (“the Act”) was signed into law on October 3, 2008, as part of H.R. 1424, the Tax Extender’s and Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008, a part of the recent massive financial rescue legislation. The long-awaited Act amends current requirements under ERISA, the Public Health Service Act and the Internal Revenue Code for parity in mental health benefi ts offered under a private group health benefit plan (currently known as the Mental Health Parity Act (MHPA)).

The Act is signifi cant because, for the first time, federal law will require private group health benefit plans to provide mental health and substance use disorder benefits on an equivalent basis to medical and surgical benefits. It will enable plan participants greater access to these types of benefits and will necessitate several plan design decisions on the part of plan sponsors. Primarily, plan sponsors will have to determine whether they can afford to provide mental health and substance use disorder benefi ts at the heightened levels required by the Act.

The Act defines mental health benefi ts as “benefits with respect to service for mental health conditions, as defined under the terms of the plan and in accordance with Federal and State law” and substance use disorder benefi ts as “benefits with respect to services for substance use disorders, as defi ned under the plan and in accordance with applicable Federal and State law.”


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