Association of Federal Mental Health Parity Legislation With Health Care Use and Spending Among High Utilizers of Services.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Decades-long efforts to require parity between behavioral and physical health insurance coverage culminated in the comprehensive federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act.

Objectives

To determine the association between federal parity and changes in mental health care utilization and spending, particularly among high utilizers.

Research design

Difference-in-differences analyses compared changes before and after exposure to federal parity versus a comparison group.

Subjects

Commercially insured enrollees aged 18-64 with a mental health disorder drawn from 24 states where self-insured employers were newly subject to federal parity in 2010 (exposure group), but small employers were exempt before-and-after parity (comparison group). A total o

SUBMITTER: Haffajee RL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6423539 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature