Illinois e-News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 5, 2023

Chicago – The Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI) announced a new ad campaign highlighting mental health parity that will kick off during Mental Health Awareness Month. The radio, digital, and social media ads aim to raise awareness about mental health parity to help Illinoisans better understand their rights related to health insurance coverage for mental health and substance use disorders, under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA).

MHPAEA requires health insurers provide coverage for mental health and substance use disorders that is no more restrictive than coverage for physical health conditions. As the state’s insurance regulator, IDOI is tasked with ensuring companies’ compliance with MHPAEA and other parity laws to protect Illinois insurance consumers. The Department’s enforcement includes conducting market conduct examinations to investigate the practices of health insurance companies, and when parity law violations are found, companies are fined.

All mental health parity fines are marked for the Parity Advancement Fund, and to date the fund balance is nearly $4.9 million. The fund is appropriated by the General Assembly to help further the cause of mental health parity, including parity compliance advocacy, initiatives supporting parity implementation and enforcement on behalf of consumers, and a Consumer Education Campaign.

“Mental Health Awareness Month is an opportune time for us to introduce our new consumer education campaign to raise awareness about mental health parity and to remind Illinoisians of the Department’s role in enforcing parity laws for health insurance coverage,” said IDOI Director Dana Popish Severinghaus. “For example, if your health plan provides unlimited doctor visits for a chronic condition like diabetes, then it must offer unlimited visits for a mental health condition such as depression. We want to educate people about the protections for parity,” she said. “So, you’ll hear our radio ads and see digital ads, along with signs on buses and trains- driving home the message that mental health coverage is just as important as physical health coverage.”

IDOI’s mental health parity ad campaign will also direct consumers to file a complaint with the Department if they believe their health insurer’s mental health and substance use disorder coverage has more restrictive requirements than those for physical health coverage.

Director Popish Severinghaus said this mental health parity ad campaign is scheduled to run through September, and there will be more to come as the Department continues its outreach and enforcement related to mental health parity.

For more information about Mental Health Parity and Mental Health Parity Laws, visit Getcoveredillinois.gov.