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In April 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finalized significant updates to Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 2, a decades-old federal regulation originally designed to shield individuals seeking substance use disorder (SUD) treatment from discrimination and stigma. Enacted in the 1970s, Part 2 was intended to encourage people to seek care without fear that their treatment history could be used against them in legal proceedings.
To promote uninterrupted access to health care during the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress required states to pause their regular efforts to verify whether enrollees in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) remained eligible for coverage. During this pause, no one was disenrolled, and the 2 programs increased in size from 71 million people in February 2020 to 94 million by April 2023.
For decades, federal law has aimed to correct disparities in how private health insurance plans cover behavioral health care compared to medical-surgical benefits. The federal effort to address inequity in mental health coverage began with the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996, followed by the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA). Both extended parity protections to the large group health plan and Medicaid managed care plan markets.
A major legislative package, House Bill 837 (companion to Senate Bill 236) expected to be signed into law by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis this week, would consummate tort reform in Florida. The package introduces significant changes to how lawsuits are filed and litigated in Florida, and seeks to bring balance and transparency to tort litigation. If signed into law, the bill provides an effective date of July 1, 2023, and will be applied prospectively.
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