evidence: For over 15 years, robust access to mental health care has been a bipartisan priority. Thanks to the 2008 enactment of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), which was further strengthened in 2020 on a bipartisan basis, health plans that cover mental health and substance use care benefits must do so at the same level as physical health care benefits. But despite this landmark law, too many Americans still struggle to find and afford the care they need. In 2020, less than half of all adults with mental illness received treatment. For children, the numbers are even worse: nearly 70 percent of our kids who seek care for mental health or substance use cannot get it. That’s in part because insurers too often make it difficult to access mental health treatment, causing millions of consumers to have high out-of-pocket costs because they go out-of-network, or defer care altogether. One study shows that insured people are nearly four times as likely go out-of-network and pay higher fees for mental health care than for physical health care. And the problem is getting worse: in recent years, the gap between usage of out-of-network care for mental health and substance use disorder benefits versus physical health benefits increased 85 percent. [...] - Close existing loopholes. When MHPAEA was first enacted, it did not require non-federal governmental health plans, like those offered to state and local government employees, to comply with its requirements. Today’s final rule closes that loophole, and now requires more than 200 additional health plans to comply with MHPAEA, providing critical protections to 120,000 consumers.