Parity Enforcement Act of 2019

Parity Enforcement Act of 2019

This bill provides authority for the Department of Labor to enforce the parity requirements for group health plans with respect to the coverage of mental health and substance use disorder benefits.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2848 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2848

    To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to 
strengthen parity in mental health and substance use disorder benefits, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 20, 2019

    Mr. Norcross (for himself, Mr. Courtney, and Ms. Kuster of New 
  Hampshire) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to 
strengthen parity in mental health and substance use disorder benefits, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Parity Enforcement Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZING ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY FOR MENTAL HEALTH AND 
              SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER BENEFITS.

    (a) In General.--Section 502(c)(10)(A) of the Employee Retirement 
Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1132(c)(10)(A)) is amended by 
striking ``for any failure'' and all that follows through ``in 
connection with the plan'' and inserting ``for any failure by such 
sponsor or issuer, in connection with the plan--
                            ``(i) to meet the requirements of 
                        subsection (a)(1)(F), (b)(3), (c), or (d) of 
                        section 702 or section 701 or 702(b)(1) with 
                        respect to genetic information; or
                            ``(ii) to meet the requirements of 
                        subsection (a) of section 712 with respect to 
                        parity in mental health and substance use 
                        disorder benefits.''.
    (b) Technical and Conforming Amendments.--Section 502 of such Act 
(29 U.S.C. 1132) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(6), by striking ``or (9)'' and 
        inserting ``(9), or (10)'';
            (2) in subsection (b)(3)--
                    (A) by striking ``subsections (c)(9) and (a)(6)'' 
                and inserting ``subsections (c)(9), (c)(10), and 
                (a)(6)'';
                    (B) by striking ``under subsection (c)(9)'' and 
                inserting ``under subsections (c)(9) and (c)(10)''; and
                    (C) by striking ``706(a)(1)'' and inserting 
                ``733(a)(1)''; and
            (3) in subsection (c)(10) in the heading, by striking ``use 
        of genetic information'' and inserting ``use of genetic 
        information and parity in mental health and substance use 
        disorder benefits''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to group health plans for plan years beginning after 
the date that is 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act.
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