Behavioral Health Coverage Transparency Act
Latest action · May 21, 2019 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedMay 21, 2019
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Behavioral Health Coverage Transparency Act
This bill requires the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor, and the Treasury to (1) cooperatively issue regulations to require group health plans and health insurance issuers to annually disclose the analyses performed to ensure compliance with mental health parity laws, and (2) conduct annual random audits of group health plans and health insurance issuers to determine compliance. (Mental health parity laws prohibit health insurance plans that cover mental health and substance use disorder services from imposing less favorable limitations on those benefits than are placed on medical and surgical benefits under that plan.)
Additionally, HHS must establish a consumer parity unit: (1) to facilitate the collection of, monitoring of, and response to consumer complaints; and (2) to provide consumers information about the disclosure requirements and enforcement of the mental health parity laws.
Cosponsors 17
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from May 21, 2019 to Jun 11, 2019; 16 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-MN | Amy Klobuchar | Original | May 21, 2019 |
| I-VT | Bernard Sanders | Original | May 21, 2019 |
| D-MD | Chris Van Hollen | Original | May 21, 2019 |
| D-CT | Christopher Murphy | Original | May 21, 2019 |
| D-NJ | Cory A. Booker | Original | May 21, 2019 |
| D-MI | Debbie Stabenow | Original | May 21, 2019 |
| D-MA | Edward J. Markey | Original | May 21, 2019 |
| D-NH | Jeanne Shaheen | Original | May 21, 2019 |
| D-CA | Kamala D. Harris | Original | May 21, 2019 |
| D-NY | Kirsten E. Gillibrand | Original | May 21, 2019 |
| D-NH | Margaret Wood Hassan | Original | May 21, 2019 |
| D-CT | Richard Blumenthal | Original | May 21, 2019 |
| D-OH | Sherrod Brown | Original | May 21, 2019 |
| D-WI | Tammy Baldwin | Original | May 21, 2019 |
| D-VA | Tim Kaine | Original | May 21, 2019 |
| D-MN | Tina Smith | Original | May 21, 2019 |
| D-OR | Ron Wyden | Jun 11, 2019 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| Senate | Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee | Referred May 21, 2019 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- May 21, 2019Introduced in Senate
- May 21, 2019Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Related bills 2
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| S 2301 | Behavioral Health Coverage Transparency Act of 2018 | Reintroduction of | Jan 11, 2018 |
| HR 2874 | Behavioral Health Coverage Transparency Act | Identical bill | Jun 30, 2020 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- A bill to strengthen parity in mental health and substance use disorder benefits.
- Short Title(s) as Introduced
- Behavioral Health Coverage Transparency Act
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Health.
- Accounting and auditing
- Administrative law and regulatory procedures
- Congressional oversight
- Consumer affairs
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Department of Labor
- Department of the Treasury
- Drug, alcohol, tobacco use
- Employee benefits and pensions
- Executive agency funding and structure
- Government information and archives
- Health
- Health care costs and insurance
- Health care coverage and access
- Health care quality
- Health information and medical records
- Health programs administration and funding
- Mental health
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- May 21, 2019Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
