Premera Commitment to Mental Health Parity Proposed Rules

The Biden Administration is developing additional Mental Health parity rules which we expect will go into effect January 1, 2025. These rules are built on the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) statute which is implementing regulations to substantially change how parity is determined, requiring organizational support to ensure compliance.

While this is a federal requirement, Premera Blue Cross also supports the Administration’s mission to ensure members continue to have access to vital behavioral health and substance abuse treatment services. We’re starting our work now to develop implementation plans and timelines well ahead of the effective dates.

We’re currently working to understand these new rules and requirements, which are not fully complete. While we’re currently building our plans to meet these rules, we may not have details on client-specific testing, or the data required to meet the MHPAEA requirements. We expect to have more detailed information on what may be required under this new rule and how Premera will support clients in meeting those requirements.

We’re currently not conducting client-specific testing as we work to thoroughly understand the requirements under the proposed rule and the data needed to satisfy those tests. We expect to have more information by mid-year. We’ll continue to provide data on an ad-hoc basis in support of the current rule and is separate from the proposed rule.