The Biden administration on Monday announced it has finalized a set of rules intended to boost Americans’ access to mental health treatments.

The new regulations seek to strengthen the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act and crackdown on loopholes that the administration says have allowed insurance companies to provide better access to physical care than mental care. 

"But for far too many Americans, critical care and treatments are out of reach. Today, my Administration is taking action to address our nation’s mental health crisis by ensuring mental health coverage will be covered at the same level as other health care for Americans," President Joe Biden said in a statement. "There is no reason that breaking your arm should be treated differently than having a mental health condition. The steps my Administration is taking today will dramatically expand access to mental health care in America.”

Under the new regulations, insurers will be required to collect and examine data on whether access to mental health or substance use disorder benefits is equal to access to medical or surgical benefits and take action if necessary. 

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which was first passed in 2008 and updated in 2020, prohibits insurance providers from imposing barriers on mental health benefits that are not placed on medical or surgical benefits. The Biden administration, however, argues that private companies have evaded the mandates, making it harder for people to get mental health coverage in-network and forcing them to seek care elsewhere at higher costs. 

“One study shows that insured people are nearly four times as likely to be forced to go out of network and pay higher fees for mental health care than for physical care,” White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden said on the call with reporters. “No one should have to drain their savings or go into debt to get help for themselves or their loved ones.”

As part of the new rules, an additional 200 health plans, impacting 120,000 consumer, will have to comply with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. 

Officials said most of the provisions of the final rules will apply to group health plans and insurers starting in Jan. 2025 while some will apply beginning after Jan. 2026. The administration will provide guidance and compliance assistance in the coming months to help insurers and plan meet their requirements. 

"As someone who has spent my entire career fighting to improve the health and well-being of all Americans, I will never stop working to ensure that health care is a right – not just a privilege for those who can afford it," Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement about the new rules. 

Biden announced he was proposing the rule at an event in the White House’s East Room last summer in which he declared: “mental health care is health care.”

“The bottom line is that this historic rule will help 175 million Americans with private health insurance better access mental health benefits through their own plan, finally fulfilling the promise of mental health parity,” Tanden said. 

In a statement, the Republican chair of the House ​​Committee on Education and the Workforce, Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, criticized the new rules as “vague and burdensome.” 

“They overregulate instead of allowing health plans to build robust networks; and they will increase premiums for employees already facing high health care costs,” she said. “These rules do nothing to improve mental health care access and instead put paperwork over patients. Reporting regulations cannot be more important than workers’ mental health.”