Health Law Advisor

On May 9, 2025, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury (collectively, “the Departments”) asked the D.C. federal court to suspend a lawsuit to challenge the legality of the 2024 Rule on the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) while the Departments consider whether to rescind or modify the 2024 Rule.^[1] On May 15, 2025, the Departments released a public statement that they will not enforce the 2024 Final Rule prior to a final decision in the litigation, plus an additional 18 months after the decision.

The public statement on May 15 provides further details regarding the scope of the non-enforcement policy, including clarification that the 2013 MHPAEA rules remain in effect, as does plans’ obligation to develop comparative analyses of non-quantitative treatment limits (“NQTLs”). However, the Departments have not yet provided any indication of the timeline for publishing a notice of proposed rulemaking to rescind or modify the 2024 Rule, and most likely it will take some time for the Departments to determine how exactly the new rule should be designed to better implement the statutory requirements.

As discussed previously on this blog, employers are increasingly turning to telemedicine as a way to cut employee health care costs and improve bottom lines. The trend will be accelerated by the impending Cadillac Tax, a 40 percent excise tax on the excess of the cost of an employee’s applicable coverage over the employee’s applicable dollar limit. In February, the Treasury and IRS released Notice 2015-16 (the “Notice”), kicking off the process of developing regulatory guidance regarding the Cadillac Tax. Specifically, the Notice addresses the following issues: