ArticlePsychiatric services (Washington, D.C.)2018
Federal Parity and Access to Behavioral Health Care in Private Health Plans.
Article in Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- The global burden of mental and substance use disorders among adolescents and young adults.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- 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
- Medicaid managed care restrictions on medications for the treatment of opioid use disorder.Health services research · 2025Article
- PERSPECTIVE: Health Economic Interests at NIMH and NIDA to Improve Delivery of Behavioral 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
- Insurance expansions and adolescent use of substance use disorder treatment.Health services research · 2021Observational
- Psychiatrist Participation in Private Health Insurance Markets: Paucity in the Land of Plenty.Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.) · 2020Article
- Impact of the Young Adult Dependent Coverage Expansion on Opioid Overdoses and Deaths: a Quasi-Experimental Study.Journal of general internal medicine · 2020Article
- 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
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThe 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) sought to improve access to behavioral health care by regulating health plans' coverage and management of services. Health plans have some discretion in how to achieve compliance with MHPAEA, leaving questions about its likely effects on health plan policies. In this study, the authors' objective was to determine how private health plans' coverage and management of behavioral health treatment changed after the federal parity law's full implementation.
methodsA nationally representative survey of commercial health plans was conducted in 60 market areas across the continental United States, achieving response rates of 89% in 2010 (weighted N=8,431) and 80% in 2014 (weighted N=6,974). Senior executives at responding plans were interviewed regarding behavioral health services in each year and (in 2014) regarding changes. Student's t tests were used to examine changes in services covered, cost-sharing, and prior authorization requirements for both behavioral health and general medical care.
resultsIn 2014, 68% of insurance products reported having expanded behavioral health coverage since 2010. Exclusion of eating disorder coverage was eliminated between 2010 (23%) and 2014 (0%). However, more products reported excluding autism treatment in 2014 (24%) than 2010 (8%). Most plans reported no change to prior-authorization requirements between 2010 and 2014.
conclusionsImplementation of federal parity legislation appears to have been accompanied by continuing improvement in behavioral health coverage. The authors did not find evidence of widespread noncompliance or of unintended effects, such as dropping coverage of behavioral health care altogether.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.