The Obama Administration this week established a task force to ensure those with mental health and substance abuse disorders are not discriminated against in the healthcare system.
The Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Task Force was created to identify and promote best practices in achieving the goal of mental health and substance abuse parity.
"The Affordable Care Act builds on the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act to expand mental health and substance use disorder benefits and Federal parity protections for more than 60 million Americans," the White House memorandum reads. "To realize the promise of coverage expansion and parity protections in helping individuals with mental health and substance use disorders, executive departments and agencies need to work together to ensure that Americans are benefiting from the [federal] parity protections the law intends."
In addition to identifying and promoting best practices in compliance and implementation, the Task Force will also identify any gaps in guidance and conduct outreach to patients, consumer advocates, providers and others involved.
The directors of the Departments of Treasury, Defense, Justice, Labor, HHS and the Veterans Affairs, with the heads of the Offices of Personnel Management and the National Drug Control Policy, will make up the membership of the Task Force. The Director of the Domestic Policy Council will serve as chair.
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