Sponsors (2)
Official title: To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to establish parity in the treatment of behavioral health and physical health conditions under disability benefit plans.
Introduced June 5, 2025 by Mark James Desaulnier · Last progress June 5, 2025
The bill would strengthen parity and enforcement to expand and protect long‑term disability benefits for people with behavioral‑health disabilities, but it raises the risk of higher costs, larger penalties, and increased federal oversight that could be passed to employers, workers, and state regulators.
People with mental-health and substance-use disabilities would gain more equal long-term disability coverage and better access to benefits previously limited by behavioral‑health duration caps, improving financial security for affected claimants.
Participants and beneficiaries would have stronger legal and administrative enforcement tools (civil penalties, ability to sue for equitable relief, and a clearer enforcement mandate), increasing the likelihood that parity violations are corrected quickly and benefits are protected.
Creates a federal backstop and consistent nationwide implementation through Department of Labor rulemaking and funding, helping ensure uniform protections across ERISA-covered plans when States do not enforce parity.
Employers, insurers, and plan sponsors may face higher benefit and administrative costs to comply with parity requirements, which could be passed on to workers as higher premiums, reduced wages, or narrower benefits.
Large per‑participant, per‑day civil monetary penalties and expanded enforcement raise the risk of significant fines and litigation costs for plan sponsors and administrators, increasing financial and legal exposure.
Greater federal enforcement and rulemaking into areas historically regulated by States could reduce State regulatory flexibility and prompt disputes over federal‑state roles in plan oversight.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Requires parity in disability benefits so mental‑health/substance‑use disabilities receive no more restrictive treatment than comparable physical disabilities, adds enforcement and penalties, and funds a Labor study.
Requires parity between disability benefits for mental‑health/substance‑use disabilities and physical‑health disabilities across ERISA plans, certain government plans, and state‑regulated issuers; creates enforcement tools and penalties, preserves individual suits, and funds a Labor Department study and education program. It phases in requirements for plan years beginning 18 months after enactment (with a delayed start for active collective bargaining agreements), gives the Secretary of Labor authority to enforce and assess daily per‑participant penalties, and authorizes $10 million per year for five years for study and outreach.