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Substance Abuse Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

Foley & Lardner LLP

Final Mental Health Parity Rules – Top Five Changes to the Status Quo

Foley & Lardner LLP on

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act and its implementing regulations and guidance (MHPAEA) prohibit health insurance policies and group health plans that cover mental health and substance use disorder (MH/SUD)...more

ArentFox Schiff

Mental Health Parity: Recent Ninth Circuit Ruling Bolsters MHPAEA and ERISA Protections, Clarifying Pleading Standards

ArentFox Schiff on

In a win for plaintiffs, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently reversed a district court’s dismissal of key claims in the case of Ryan S. v. UnitedHealth Group, Inc. The case provides useful guidance for...more

Arnall Golden Gregory LLP

Appeals Court Revives AGG Class Action Against UnitedHealth Group for Federal Mental Health Parity Law Violations

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled on April 11, 2024, that AGG’s class action lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group and its subsidiaries for the wrongful and systematic denial of mental health and...more

Arnall Golden Gregory LLP

California Federal District Court Rules That AGG Clients’ Case Against Cigna for Institutional Practice of Under-Reimbursing...

U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter ruled in favor of AGG’s clients on March 18, 2024, in a case involving “matters of widescale public concern” and a strong “public interest in access” to some of Cigna’s most coveted...more

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

[Webinar] Mental Health Parity Update 2024: The Latest Regulatory and Litigation Trends - March 26th, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm ET

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) requires health plans and insurers to offer mental health coverage in “parity” with a plan’s medical or surgical coverage. In 2024, as the post-COVID era brings a...more

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

New Mental Health Parity Guidance Creates More Work, Cost, and Risk for Plan Sponsors

Guidance on the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (the "MHPAEA") recently released by the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury (the "Departments") proposes significant requirements for...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP - Left Coast Appeals

This Week At The Ninth: ERISA and FERC

This week, the Ninth Circuit considers ERISA claims alleging that a plan administrator unlawfully utilized internal guidelines more stringent than the terms of plaintiffs’ plans and the statute of limitations for an action by...more

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

First Look at Proposed New Federal Mental Health Parity Rules

Last week, the departments of the Treasury, Labor and Health and Human Services (collectively, the Departments) published long-awaited proposed regulations intended to clarify and improve compliance with the federal mental...more

Cozen O'Connor

AGs Seek En Banc Review of Ninth Circuit Decision on ERISA Plan Insurers’ Obligations

Cozen O'Connor on

A group of 16 Democratic AGs filed an amicus brief supporting plaintiffs-appellees’ petition for rehearing en banc in Wit v. United Behavioral Health—a case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in which...more

Morgan Lewis

House Passes Mental Health Matters Act: What Employers, Insurers, and ERISA Plan Administrators Need to Know

Morgan Lewis on

The Mental Health Matters Act, passed in the US House of Representatives on September 29, significantly expands the US Department of Labor’s authority to enforce or file civil litigation with respect to mental health parity...more

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC

Employer Provided Travel Benefits in Response to Dobbs and State Prohibitions on Abortion

The implications of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe v. Wade’s constitutional right to abortion have had sweeping implications that affect...more

King & Spalding

Ninth Circuit Reverses Decision Against United in ERISA Mental Health Class Actions

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On March 22, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the judgment of a district court that had ordered United Behavioral Health (UBH) to reprocess over 50,000 mental health and substance use disorder...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Ninth Circuit Defers to Plan Design and Administrative Discretion on Bounds of Mental Health Coverage

A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Wit et al. v. United Behavioral Health and Alexander et al. v. United Behavioral Health) exemplifies the challenge in balancing a desire to cover evolving...more

Epstein Becker & Green

2022 Mental Health Parity Report to Congress Highlights Increased Enforcement Efforts

On January 25, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”), Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of the Treasury (collectively, “Departments” or “Regulators”) released their 2022 Annual Report to Congress on...more

Arnall Golden Gregory LLP

Ninth Circuit Sides With Plaintiff, Reviving $8.6M Reimbursement Suit

AGG Healthcare attorneys Matthew M. Lavin and Aaron R. Modiano recently secured a revival of an $8.6 million reimbursement suit against Cigna Health and Life Insurance. In Bristol SL Holding, Inc. v. Cigna Health and Life...more

Morgan Lewis

A Survival Guide to DOL Group Health Plan Mental Health Parity Audits

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The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 mandates that employers offering medical/surgical and mental health/substance use disorder coverage provide comparative analyses and any supporting documentation demonstrating...more

Hinshaw & Culbertson - The LHD/ERISA Advisor

The LHD/ERISA Advisor – June 2021: Sparsely Pleaded Parity Act Lawsuit Survives Motion to Dismiss

In Nathan W. v. Anthem Bluecross Blueshield of Wisconsin, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42127 (M (D. Utah Mar. 5, 2021), a federal court held that conclusory allegations of discriminatory medical necessity criteria were sufficient to...more

Hinshaw & Culbertson - The LHD/ERISA Advisor

The LHD/ERISA Advisor – June 2021: Health Plan May Not Exclude Specific Autism Treatments

The extent to which a health plan may exclude coverage for mental health treatment modalities has become an active area in ERISA litigation. In Doe v. United Behavioral Health, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 43146 (N.D. Cal. March 5,...more

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC

DOL to Focus on Red Flags in Mental Health Parity Requests

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC on

Last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it will focus on requesting information from employers where there are potential “red flags” of non-compliance with the provisions and rules of the Mental Health Parity...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

DOL Actively Enforcing Newly Required Mental Health Comparative Analysis

Group health plans and insurers have been required since 2008 to ensure that any “nonquantitative treatment limitations” (NQTLs) imposed on mental health or substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits are comparable and no more...more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

Are You Ready to Provide Your MHPAEA Disclosure?

We previously blogged about the new Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) reporting and disclosure requirements established by the Consolidated Appropriation Act, 2021 (CAA). As a refresher, employers and...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Departments Release FAQs on Implementing the Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Requirements under the Consolidated...

As described in a recent blog post, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 amended the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) to require group health plans and health insurance issuers (collectively, “group...more

Locke Lord LLP

DOL, HHS, and Treasury Jointly Issue FAQs on the CAA’s Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Provisions

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On April 2, 2021, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury (the “Departments”) issued Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQs”) related to the implementation of the mental health and substance use disorder...more

K&L Gates LLP

Recent District Court Decision Highlights the Importance of Adequate Behavioral Health Claims Processing Guidelines for ERISA...

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On this week’s episode, Carla DewBerry and Sarah Carlins discuss a recent California Federal District Court decision in David Wit v. United Behavioral Health, in which the court found that the defendant insurer violated ERISA...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

New California Mental Health Law May Affect Health Plan Benefits and Utilization Review

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California health insurers and health care service plans that provide hospital, medical, or surgical coverage and that are issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2021 will be required to cover all medically...more

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