Sponsors (2)
The bill would expand and better enforce parity for MH/SUD-related disability benefits—improving access and accountability for people with behavioral-health disabilities—but it raises costs, enforcement and litigation risks for employers and plans and requires taxpayer-funded study without guaranteed immediate changes.
People with mental-health or substance-use (MH/SUD) disabilities would gain access to disability benefits equal to physical disabilities, reducing coverage gaps and discrimination.
Plan participants and beneficiaries would get stronger enforcement tools—administrative civil penalties assessed by the Secretary of Labor plus the ability to seek equitable relief—making it easier to hold plans accountable for parity violations.
Plan participants with behavioral-health disabilities and plan sponsors would benefit from a federally funded study ($50M over 5 years) and targeted outreach that will analyze duration limits, estimate actuarial impacts, and inform better-designed benefits or rulemaking.
Employers, insurance issuers, and plan sponsors could face higher compliance and benefit costs, which may lead to higher premiums, reduced other benefits, or cost-cutting that affects employees and taxpayers.
Small plan sponsors and some employers could face substantial cumulative daily per-participant fines for noncompliance, causing cash-flow problems or jeopardizing plan operations.
Plans, issuers, and plan administrators could face increased administrative burdens and litigation risk (private rights of action and enforcement actions), diverting resources from benefits to legal and compliance costs.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Introduced June 5, 2025 by Mark James Desaulnier · Last progress June 5, 2025
Requires that disability benefits for mental health and substance use disorders be treated the same as benefits for physical health disabilities, bans more restrictive limits on MH/SUD-related disability benefits, and creates new federal enforcement tools and penalties for plan sponsors, administrators, issuers, and service providers who violate the rule. It directs the Labor Department to study and report on the cost of providing parity for behavioral-health-caused disabilities, requires outreach to plan sponsors, authorizes rulemaking and $10 million per year for five years, and phases the rule in for plan years beginning 18 months after enactment (with a delay for collective bargaining plans).