The Biden administration proposes new rules to push insurers to boost mental health coverage #Biden #administration #proposes #rules #push #insurers #boost #mental #health #coverage

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration on Tuesday is announcing new rules meant to push insurance companies to increase their coverage of mental health treatments.

The new regulations, which still need to go through a public comment period, would require insurers to study whether their customers have equal access to medical and mental health benefits and to take remedial action, if necessary. The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act requires that insurers provide the same level of coverage for both mental and physical health care — though the administration and advocates argue insurers’ policies restrict patient access.

The rules, if finalized, would force insurers to study patient outcomes to ensure the benefits are administered equally, taking into account their provider network and reimbursement rates and whether prior authorization is required for care.

FILE- In this undated photo 14-year-old Emmett L.Till from Chicago, is shown. President Joe Biden is expected to sign a proclamation on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, that establishes a national monument honoring Emmett Till, whose abduction, torture and killing in Mississippi in 1955 helped propel the civil rights movement.(AP Photo, File)

President Joe Biden is expected to sign a proclamation on Tuesday that establishes a national monument honoring Emmett Till, the Black teenager from Chicago whose abduction, torture and killing in Mississippi in 1955 helped propel the civil rights movement.

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, center, flanked by Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, left, and Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., arrives as the House Oversight and Accountability Committee holds a hearing to charge that the Justice Department interfered with a yearslong investigation into Hunter Biden, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 19, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The lead prosecutor in the case against President Joe Biden’s son Hunter says he is willing to testify publicly this fall.

Migrants who crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico walk past large buoys being deployed as a border barrier on the river in Eagle Pass, Texas, Wednesday, July 12, 2023. The floating barrier is being deployed in an effort to block migrants from entering Texas from Mexico. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

The lawsuit filed Monday asks a court to force Texas to remove a line of bright orange, wrecking ball-sized buoys that the Biden administration says raises humanitarian and environmental concerns.

FILE - Shuwanza Goff, left, speaks with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Md., as they walk on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 4, 2019. President Biden announced that Goff will serve as Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Legislative Affairs. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

President Joe Biden has chosen Shuwanza Goff as his new director of legislative affairs, making her the first Black woman to be the White House’s chief emissary to Capitol Hill.

The Democratic president’s administration says it’s aiming to address issues such as insurers enabling nutritional counseling for diabetes patients but making it more difficult for those with eating disorders.

By measuring outcomes, the White House says, it will force insurers to make modifications to come into compliance with the law.

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