Sponsor
Thomas Kean
Representative · R-NJ
Representative · R-NJ
The bill strengthens enforcement and funding for mental health and addiction parity—likely improving access for patients—but increases compliance costs and liability exposure for employers and insurers and adds modest federal spending.
Patients with mental health and substance use disorders gain stronger enforcement and likely improved access to covered behavioral health benefits because participants get new enforcement tools and EBSA receives increased enforcement funding.
Federal enforcement capacity is increased and stabilized by $30 million per year (FY2027–FY2031) for EBSA, supporting sustained parity oversight and program stability over five years.
Plan sponsors, administrators, and service providers can be penalized more broadly, creating stronger incentives across actors who manage or deliver benefits to comply with parity and nondiscrimination rules.
Employers, insurers, plan administrators, and service providers face higher compliance costs, administrative burdens, and potential penalties, which may raise costs for employers and could be passed on to employees or policyholders.
Expanded liability exposure for nondiscrimination and genetic-information violations increases litigation risk and legal costs for plans and issuers, adding uncertainty for employers and small businesses.
Some enforcement authority over parity is explicitly limited for the Secretary, which could create fragmentation or confusion about who enforces parity rules and complicate coordination between regulators.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Expands ERISA penalty authority to additional plan actors for parity and nondiscrimination violations and funds EBSA $30M/year for 2027–2031 to enforce mental health parity.
Official title: To provide for civil monetary penalties for violations of mental health parity requirements.
Introduced June 30, 2026 by Thomas Kean · Last progress June 30, 2026
Expands federal enforcement of mental health and substance use disorder parity by widening who can be penalized for violations and which violations are covered, and provides dedicated funding to the Department of Labor to carry out parity enforcement. The bill broadens ERISA civil monetary penalty authority to include plan administrators and service providers (in addition to plan sponsors), clarifies that parity and certain nondiscrimination violations tied to group health plans can trigger penalties, and appropriates $30 million per year for five years to the Employee Benefits Security Administration to support enforcement activities related to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act and these new rules.