President Biden on Tuesday will outline rules that require insurers to put mental health care on par with physical health benefits — and make changes if they are not meeting this goal.

The administration said a bipartisan 2008 law required parity between mental and physical care. Yet persons seeking mental health care are still forced to pay out-of-pocket or go out-of-network for services at higher rates, the administration said.

Through rulemaking, the administration says it will “make clear that health plans need to evaluate the outcomes of their coverage rules to make sure people have equivalent access between their mental health and medical benefits.”

For instance, insurers must disclose whether they are providing mental health services within their networks, and document how often they deny care or require extra authorization before paying for services.

Mr. Biden will also require insurers to explain whether they are offering narrow networks to persons seeking mental health care than those seeking physical care, or if they are throwing down extra bureaucratic hurdles.

“Under the proposed rule, health plans must use similar factors in setting out-of-network payment rates for mental health and substance use disorder providers as they do for medical providers,” according to the White House.

The administration said while about one in five Americans had a mental illness in 2020, only half of those persons received care. The numbers were worse for those with substance-abuse disorders, with one in 10 getting treatment.

Administration officials pointed to a family in Michigan that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to treat their son’s depression and anxiety because they could not acquire specialized care close to their home, and a mom in Rhode Island who had to prepare additional paperwork for her daughter because, initially, a private insurer denied her treatment.

Mr. Biden will also close a “loophole” in which the 2008 law, the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, did not apply to nonfederal government plans for state and local government employees. 

The extension of protections will cover 200 extra health plans with 90,000 members, according to the administration.

• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.