Evaluating State Mental Health and Addiction Parity Statutes: A Technical Report
6
The Importance of State
Statutes
S
tate statutory codes provide critical protections related to coverage for mental health and
substance use disorders. While the Federal Parity Law provides some protections, state
statutes bridge important gaps and facilitate implementation of the Federal Parity Law. For
example, state statutes can mandate or expand the scope of coverage for a mental health
or substance use disorder or can require regulatory agencies to carry out market conduct
examinations and submit reports demonstrating adequate enforcement. Embedding strong
parity protections in state statutes establishes the minimum criteria for regulatory agencies to
enforce, while also building in transparency and accountability to make enforcement less reliant
on political will alone and to encourage continuity across administrations.
Given the significance of state statutory codes in helping make parity a reality, it is important
to identify and understand variations in state statutes. Characterizing the relative strengths and
weaknesses of each state helps inform policymakers, advocates, and other stakeholders as they
identify priorities for their legislative sessions. This policy analysis was designed to identify key
elements of state legal codes relating to parity.
By employing a systematic, replicable methodology of indexing and coding statutes, a
comparative analysis of states is possible. Furthermore, the resulting database enables future
research studies designed to evaluate the impact of state laws on mental health and substance
use disorders or other public health outcomes of interest. To supplement each report, state
specific report cards were developed to tailor recommendations.
State-specific report cards can be downloaded at:
ParityTrack.org/anniversary.
