ArticleThe Milbank quarterly2010
A political history of federal mental health and addiction insurance parity.
Article in The Milbank quarterly, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed.
- Governing AI for Mental Health: Fragmented State Approaches and the Case for a Federal Framework.JMIR mental health · 2026Article
- System Effects of Mental Health Agency Expenditures and Mental Health Parity Legislation at the State Level.The journal of behavioral health services & research · 2025Article
- Changes in Access to Substance Use Disorder Treatment Associated with the 2008 U.S. Parity Law.The journal of mental health policy and economics · 2025Article
- Private Equity Penetration in Behavioral Health in the United States, 2010-2022.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Article
- Mental Health Treatment Access: Experience, Hypotheticals, and Public Opinion.The Milbank quarterly · 2025Article
- A Mixed-Methods Exploration of the Implementation of Policies That Earmarked Taxes for Behavioral Health.The Milbank quarterly · 2024Article
- PERSPECTIVE: Health Economic Interests at NIMH and NIDA to Improve Delivery of Behavioral Health Services.The journal of mental health policy and economics · 2024Article
- PERSPECTIVE: A Path to Value-Based Insurance Design for Mental Health Services.The journal of mental health policy and economics · 2024Article
- How policymakers innovate around behavioral health: adoption of the New Mexico "No Behavioral Health Cost-Sharing" law.Health affairs scholar · 2024Article
- Earmarked Taxes for Mental Health Services in the United States: A Local and State Legal Mapping Study.The Milbank quarterly · 2023Article
- The Future of Public Mental Health: Challenges and Opportunities.The Milbank quarterly · 2023Article
- A policy implementation study of earmarked taxes for mental health services: study protocol.Implementation science communications · 2023Article
- Phantom Networks: Discrepancies Between Reported And Realized Mental Health Care Access In Oregon Medicaid.Health affairs (Project Hope) · 2022Article
- A Qualitative Exploration of the Views of Policymakers and Policy Advisors on the Impact of Mental Health Stigma on the Development and Implementation of Mental Health Policy in Singapore.Administration and policy in mental health · 2022Article
- Definitions of Community for Individuals with Serious Mental Illnesses: Implications for Community Integration and Recovery.Administration and policy in mental health · 2021Article
- Carve-out plan financial requirements associated with national behavioral health parity.Health services research · 2020Article
- Factors associated with state legislators' support for opioid use disorder parity laws.The International journal on drug policy · 2020Article
- State Legislators' Support for Behavioral Health Parity Laws: The Influence of Mutable and Fixed Factors at Multiple Levels.The Milbank quarterly · 2019Article
- Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act and the Use of Outpatient Behavioral Health Services in the United States, 2005-2016.American journal of public health · 2019Article
- The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) evaluation study: Did parity differentially affect substance use disorder and mental health benefits offered by behavioral healthcare carve-out and carve-in plans?Drug and alcohol dependence · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
contextThis article chronicles the political history of efforts by the U.S. Congress to enact a law requiring "parity" for mental health and addiction benefits and medical/surgical benefits in private health insurance. The goal of the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity (MHPAE) Act of 2008 is to eliminate differences in insurance coverage for behavioral health. Mental health and addiction treatment advocates have long viewed parity as a means of increasing fairness in the insurance market, whereas employers and insurers have opposed it because of concerns about its cost. The passage of this law is viewed as a legislative success by both consumer and provider advocates and the employer and insurance groups that fought against it for decades.
methodsTwenty-nine structured interviews were conducted with key informants in the federal parity debate, including members of Congress and their staff; lobbyists for consumer, provider, employer, and insurance groups; and other key contacts. Historical documentation, academic research on the effects of parity regulations, and public comment letters submitted to the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury before the release of federal guidance also were examined.
findingsThree factors were instrumental to the passage of this law: the emergence of new evidence regarding the costs of parity, personal experience with mental illness and addiction, and the political strategies adopted by congressional champions in the Senate and House of Representatives.
conclusionsChallenges to implementing the federal parity policy warrant further consideration. This law raises new questions about the future direction of federal policymaking on behavioral health.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.