I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4276 

To strengthen parity in mental health and substance use disorder benefits. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 16, 2015 

Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mr. TONKO, Ms. MATSUI, Ms. CLARKE of New 

York, and Ms. CASTOR of Florida) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition 

to the Committees on Education and the Workforce and Ways and 

Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To strengthen parity in mental health and substance use 

disorder benefits. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Behavioral Health Cov5 erage Transparency Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STRENGTHENING PARITY IN MENTAL HEALTH AND 

2 SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER BENEFITS. 

3 (a) PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ACT.—Section 

4 2726(a) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 

5 300gg–26(a)) is amended by adding at the end the fol6 lowing new paragraphs: 

7 ‘‘(6) DISCLOSURE AND ENFORCEMENT RE8 QUIREMENTS.— 

9 ‘‘(A) DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS.— 

10 ‘‘(i) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 

11 June 30, 2016, the Secretary, in coopera12 tion with the Secretaries of Labor and the 

13 Treasury, as appropriate, shall issue addi14 tional regulations for carrying out this sec15 tion, including an explanation of docu16 ments that must be disclosed by plans and 

17 issuers, the process governing such disclo18 sures by plans and issuers, and analyses 

19 that must be conducted by plans and 

20 issuers by a group health plan or health in21 surance issuer offering health insurance 

22 coverage in the group or individual market 

23 in order for such plan or issuer to dem24 onstrate compliance with the provisions of 

25 this section. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS.— 

2 Documents required to be disclosed by a 

3 group health plan or health insurance 

4 issuer offering health insurance coverage in 

5 the group or individual market under 

6 clause (i) shall include an annual report 

7 that details the specific analyses performed 

8 to ensure compliance of such plan or cov9 erage with the law and regulations. At a 

10 minimum, with respect to the application 

11 of non-quantitative treatment limitations 

12 (in this paragraph referred to as NQTLs) 

13 to benefits under the plan or coverage, 

14 such report shall— 

15 ‘‘(I) identify the specific factors 

16 the plan or coverage used in per17 forming its NQTL analysis; 

18 ‘‘(II) identify and define the spe19 cific evidentiary standards relied on to 

20 evaluate the factors; 

21 ‘‘(III) describe how the evi22 dentiary standards are applied to each 

23 service category for mental health, 

24 substance use disorders, medical bene25 fits, and surgical benefits; 


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1 ‘‘(IV) disclose the results of the 

2 analyses of the specific evidentiary 

3 standards in each service category; 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(V) disclose the specific findings 

6 of the plan or coverage in each service 

7 category and the conclusions reached 

8 with respect to whether the processes, 

9 strategies, evidentiary standards, or 

10 other factors used in applying the 

11 NQTL to mental health or substance 

12 use disorder benefits are comparable 

13 to, and applied no more stringently 

14 than, the processes, strategies, evi15 dentiary standards, or other factors 

16 used in applying the limitation with 

17 respect to medical and surgical bene18 fits in the same classification. 

19 ‘‘(iii) GUIDANCE.—The Secretary, in 

20 cooperation with the Secretaries of Labor 

21 and the Treasury, as appropriate, shall 

22 issue guidance to group health plans and 

23 health insurance issuers offering health in24 surance coverage in the group or individual 

25 markets on how to satisfy the requirements 


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1 of this section with respect to making in2 formation available to current and poten3 tial participants and beneficiaries. Such in4 formation shall include certificate of cov5 erage documents and instruments under 

6 which the plan or coverage involved is ad7 ministered and operated that specify, in8 clude, or refer to procedures, formulas, and 

9 methodologies applied to determine a par10 ticipant or beneficiary’s benefit under the 

11 plan or coverage, regardless of whether 

12 such information is contained in a docu13 ment designated as the ‘plan document’. 

14 Such guidance shall include a disclosure of 

15 how the plan or coverage involved has pro16 vided that processes, strategies, evidentiary 

17 standards, and other factors used in apply18 ing the NQTL to mental health or sub19 stance use disorder benefits are com20 parable to, and applied no more stringently 

21 than, the processes, strategies, evidentiary 

22 standards, or other factors used in apply23 ing the limitation with respect to medical 

24 and surgical benefits in the same classi25 fication. 


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1 ‘‘(iv) DEFINITIONS.—In this para2 graph and paragraph (7), the terms ‘non3 quantitative treatment limitations’, ‘com4 parable to’, and ‘applied no more strin5 gently than’ have the meanings given such 

6 terms in sections 146 and 147 of title 45, 

7 Code of Federal Regulations (or any suc8 cessor regulation). 

9 ‘‘(B) ENFORCEMENT.— 

10 ‘‘(i) PROCESS FOR COMPLAINTS.—The 

11 Secretary, in cooperation with the Secre12 taries of Labor and the Treasury, as ap13 propriate, shall, with respect to group 

14 health plans and health insurance issuers 

15 offering health insurance coverage in the 

16 group or individual market, issue guidance 

17 to clarify the process and timeline for cur18 rent and potential participants and bene19 ficiaries (and authorized representatives 

20 and health care providers of such partici21 pants and beneficiaries) with respect to 

22 such plans and coverage to file formal 

23 complaints of such plans or issuers being 

24 in violation of this section, including guid25 ance, by plan type, on the relevant State, 


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1 regional, and national offices with which 

2 such complaints should be filed. 

3 ‘‘(ii) AUTHORITY FOR PUBLIC EN4 FORCEMENT.—The Secretary, in consulta5 tion with the Secretaries of Labor and the 

6 Treasury, shall make available to the pub7 lic on the Consumer Parity Portal website 

8 established under paragraph (7) de-identi9 fied information on audits and investiga10 tions of group health plans and health in11 surance issuers conducted under this sec12 tion. 

13 ‘‘(iii) AUDITS.— 

14 ‘‘(I) RANDOMIZED AUDITS.—The 

15 Secretary in cooperation with the Sec16 retaries of Labor and the Treasury, is 

17 authorized to conduct randomized au18 dits of group health plans and health 

19 insurance issuers offering health in20 surance coverage in the group or indi21 vidual market to determine compli22 ance with this section. Such audits 

23 shall be conducted on no fewer than 

24 twelve plans and issuers per plan 

25 year. Information from such audits 


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1 shall be made plainly available on the 

2 Consumer Parity Portal website es3 tablished under paragraph (7). 

4 ‘‘(II) ADDITIONAL AUDITS.—In 

5 the case of a group health plan or 

6 health insurance issuer offering health 

7 insurance coverage in the group or in8 dividual market with respect to which 

9 any claim has been filed during a plan 

10 year, the Secretary may audit the 

11 books and records of such plan or 

12 issuer to determine compliance with 

13 this section. Information detailing the 

14 results of the audit shall be made 

15 available on the Consumer Parity Por16 tal website established under para17 graph (7). 

18 ‘‘(iv) DENIAL RATES.—The Secretary 

19 shall collect information on the rates of 

20 and reasons for denial by group health 

21 plans and health insurance issuers offering 

22 health insurance coverage in the group or 

23 individual market of claims for outpatient 

24 and inpatient mental health and substance 

25 use disorder services compared to the rates 


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1 of and reasons for denial of claims for 

2 medical and surgical services. For the first 

3 plan year beginning at least two years 

4 after the date of the enactment of this 

5 paragraph and each subsequent plan year, 

6 the Secretary shall submit to the Energy 

7 and Commerce Committee of the House of 

8 Representatives and the Committee on 

9 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of 

10 the Senate, and make plainly available on 

11 the Consumer Parity Portal website under 

12 paragraph (7), the information collected 

13 under the previous sentence with respect to 

14 the previous plan year. 

15 ‘‘(7) CONSUMER PARITY PORTAL WEBSITE.— 

16 The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretaries 

17 of Labor and the Treasury, shall establish a one18 stop Internet website portal for— 

19 ‘‘(A) submitting complaints and violations 

20 relating to this section, section 712 of the Em21 ployee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 

22 and section 9812 of the Internal Revenue Code 

23 of 1986; and 

24 ‘‘(B) for each of such Secretaries to submit 

25 information in order to provide such informaVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:55 Jan 04, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4276.IH H4276

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1 tion to health care consumers pursuant to para2 graph (6), section 712(a)(6) of the Employee 

3 Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, and 

4 section 9812(a)(6) of the Internal Revenue 

5 Code of 1986. 

6 Such portal shall have the ability to take basic infor7 mation related to the complaint, including name, 

8 contact information, and brief narrative, and trans9 mit such information in a timely fashion to the ap10 propriate State or Federal enforcement agency. Once 

11 the consumer information is submitted, such portal 

12 shall provide the consumer with contact information 

13 for the appropriate enforcement agency to follow-up 

14 on the complaint.’’. 

15 (b) EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT INCOME SECURITY ACT

16 OF 1974.—Section 712(a) of the Employee Retirement In17 come Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1185a(a)) is 

18 amended by adding at the end the following new para19 graph: 

20 ‘‘(6) DISCLOSURE AND ENFORCEMENT RE21 QUIREMENTS.— 

22 ‘‘(A) DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS.— 

23 ‘‘(i) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 

24 June 30, 2016, the Secretary, in coopera25 tion with the Secretaries of Health and 


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1 Human Services and the Treasury, as ap2 propriate, shall issue additional regulations 

3 for carrying out this section, including an 

4 explanation of documents that must be dis5 closed by plans and issuers, the process 

6 governing such disclosures by plans and 

7 issuers, and analyses that must be con8 ducted by plans and issuers by a group 

9 health plan (and health insurance coverage 

10 offered in connection with such a plan) in 

11 order for such plan or issuer to dem12 onstrate compliance with the provisions of 

13 this section. 

14 ‘‘(ii) DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS.— 

15 Documents required to be disclosed by a 

16 group health plan (and health insurance 

17 coverage offered in connection with such a 

18 plan) under clause (i) shall include an an19 nual report that details the specific anal20 yses performed to ensure compliance of 

21 such plan or coverage with the law and 

22 regulations. At a minimum, with respect to 

23 the application of non-quantitative treat24 ment limitations (in this paragraph reVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:55 Jan 04, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4276.IH H4276

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1 ferred to as NQTLs) to benefits under the 

2 plan or coverage, such report shall— 

3 ‘‘(I) identify the specific factors 

4 the plan or coverage used in per5 forming its NQTL analysis; 

6 ‘‘(II) identify and define the spe7 cific evidentiary standards relied on to 

8 evaluate the factors; 

9 ‘‘(III) describe how the evi10 dentiary standards are applied to each 

11 service category for mental health, 

12 substance use disorders, medical bene13 fits, and surgical benefits; 

14 ‘‘(IV) disclose the results of the 

15 analyses of the specific evidentiary 

16 standards in each service category; 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(V) disclose the specific findings 

19 of the plan or coverage in each service 

20 category and the conclusions reached 

21 with respect to whether the processes, 

22 strategies, evidentiary standards, or 

23 other factors used in applying the 

24 NQTL to mental health or substance 

25 use disorder benefits are comparable 


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1 to, and applied no more stringently 

2 than, the processes, strategies, evi3 dentiary standards, or other factors 

4 used in applying the limitation with 

5 respect to medical and surgical bene6 fits in the same classification. 

7 ‘‘(iii) GUIDANCE.—The Secretary, in 

8 cooperation with the Secretaries of Health 

9 and Human Services and the Treasury, as 

10 appropriate, shall issue guidance to group 

11 health plans (and health insurance cov12 erage offered in connection with such a 

13 plan) on how to satisfy the requirements of 

14 this section with respect to making infor15 mation available to current and potential 

16 participants and beneficiaries. Such infor17 mation shall include certificate of coverage 

18 documents and instruments under which 

19 the plan or coverage involved is adminis20 tered and operated that specify, include, or 

21 refer to procedures, formulas, and meth22 odologies applied to determine a partici23 pant or beneficiary’s benefit under the plan 

24 or coverage, regardless of whether such in25 formation is contained in a document desVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:55 Jan 04, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4276.IH H4276

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1 ignated as the ‘plan document’. Such guid2 ance shall include a disclosure of how the 

3 plan or coverage involved has provided that 

4 processes, strategies, evidentiary stand5 ards, and other factors used in applying 

6 the NQTL to mental health or substance 

7 use disorder benefits are comparable to, 

8 and applied no more stringently than, the 

9 processes, strategies, evidentiary stand10 ards, or other factors used in applying the 

11 limitation with respect to medical and sur12 gical benefits in the same classification. 

13 ‘‘(iv) DEFINITIONS.—In this para14 graph, the terms ‘non-quantitative treat15 ment limitations’, ‘comparable to’, and ‘ap16 plied no more stringently than’ have the 

17 meanings given such terms in sections 146 

18 and 147 of title 45, Code of Federal Regu19 lations (or any successor regulation). 

20 ‘‘(B) ENFORCEMENT.— 

21 ‘‘(i) PROCESS FOR COMPLAINTS.—The 

22 Secretary, in cooperation with the Secre23 taries of Health and Human Services and 

24 the Treasury, as appropriate, shall, with 

25 respect to group health plans (and health 


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1 insurance coverage offered in connection 

2 with such a plan), issue guidance to clarify 

3 the process and timeline for current and 

4 potential participants and beneficiaries 

5 (and authorized representatives and health 

6 care providers of such participants and 

7 beneficiaries) with respect to such plans 

8 (and coverage) to file formal complaints of 

9 such plans (or coverage) being in violation 

10 of this section, including guidance, by plan 

11 type, on the relevant State, regional, and 

12 national offices with which such complaints 

13 should be filed. 

14 ‘‘(ii) AUTHORITY FOR PUBLIC EN15 FORCEMENT.—The Secretary, in consulta16 tion with the Secretaries of Labor and the 

17 Treasury, shall make available to the pub18 lic on the Consumer Parity Portal website 

19 established under section 2726(a)(7) of the 

20 Public Health Service Act de-identified in21 formation on audits and investigations of 

22 group health plans (and health insurance 

23 coverage offered in connection with such a 

24 plan) conducted under this section. 

25 ‘‘(iii) AUDITS.— 


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1 ‘‘(I) RANDOMIZED AUDITS.—The 

2 Secretary in cooperation with the Sec3 retaries of Health and Human Serv4 ices and the Treasury, is authorized 

5 to conduct randomized audits of 

6 group health plans (and health insur7 ance coverage offered in connection 

8 with such a plan) to determine com9 pliance with this section. Such audits 

10 shall be conducted on no fewer than 

11 twelve plans and coverage per plan 

12 year. Information from such audits 

13 shall be made plainly available on the 

14 Consumer Parity Portal website es15 tablished under section 2726(a)(7) of 

16 the Public Health Service Act. 

17 ‘‘(II) ADDITIONAL AUDITS.—In 

18 the case of a group health plan (and 

19 health insurance coverage offered in 

20 connection with such a plan) with re21 spect to which any claim has been 

22 filed during a plan year, the Secretary 

23 may audit the books and records of 

24 such plan (or coverage) to determine 

25 compliance with this section. InformaVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:55 Jan 04, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4276.IH H4276

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1 tion detailing the results of the audit 

2 shall be made available on the Con3 sumer Parity Portal website estab4 lished under section 2726(a)(7) of the 

5 Public Health Service Act. 

6 ‘‘(iv) DENIAL RATES.—The Secretary 

7 shall collect information on the rates of 

8 and reasons for denial by group health 

9 plans (and health insurance coverage of10 fered in connection with such a plan) of 

11 claims for outpatient and inpatient mental 

12 health and substance use disorder services 

13 compared to the rates of and reasons for 

14 denial of claims for medical and surgical 

15 services. For the first plan year beginning 

16 at least two years after the date of the en17 actment of this paragraph and each subse18 quent plan year, the Secretary shall submit 

19 to the Energy and Commerce Committee 

20 of the House of Representatives and the 

21 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 

22 and Pensions of the Senate, and make 

23 plainly available on the Consumer Parity 

24 Portal website under section 2726(a)(7) of 

25 the Public Health Service Act, the inforVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:55 Jan 04, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4276.IH H4276

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1 mation collected under the previous sen2 tence with respect to the previous plan 

3 year.’’. 

4 (c) INTERNAL REVENUE CODE OF 1986.—Section 

5 9812(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended 

6 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(6) DISCLOSURE AND ENFORCEMENT RE8 QUIREMENTS.— 

9 ‘‘(A) DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS.— 

10 ‘‘(i) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 

11 June 30, 2016, the Secretary, in coopera12 tion with the Secretaries of Health and 

13 Human Services and Labor, as appro14 priate, shall issue additional regulations for 

15 carrying out this section, including an ex16 planation of documents that must be dis17 closed by plans and issuers, the process 

18 governing such disclosures by plans and 

19 issuers, and analyses that must be con20 ducted by plans and issuers by a group 

21 health plan in order for such plan to dem22 onstrate compliance with the provisions of 

23 this section. 

24 ‘‘(ii) DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS.— 

25 Documents required to be disclosed by a 


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1 group health plan under clause (i) shall in2 clude an annual report that details the spe3 cific analyses performed to ensure compli4 ance of such plan with the law and regula5 tions. At a minimum, with respect to the 

6 application of non-quantitative treatment 

7 limitations (in this paragraph referred to 

8 as NQTLs) to benefits under the plan, 

9 such report shall— 

10 ‘‘(I) identify the specific factors 

11 the plan used in performing its NQTL 

12 analysis; 

13 ‘‘(II) identify and define the spe14 cific evidentiary standards relied on to 

15 evaluate the factors; 

16 ‘‘(III) describe how the evi17 dentiary standards are applied to each 

18 service category for mental health, 

19 substance use disorders, medical bene20 fits, and surgical benefits; 

21 ‘‘(IV) disclose the results of the 

22 analyses of the specific evidentiary 

23 standards in each service category; 

24 and 


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1 ‘‘(V) disclose the specific findings 

2 of the plan in each service category 

3 and the conclusions reached with re4 spect to whether the processes, strate5 gies, evidentiary standards, or other 

6 factors used in applying the NQTL to 

7 mental health or substance use dis8 order benefits are comparable to, and 

9 applied no more stringently than, the 

10 processes, strategies, evidentiary 

11 standards, or other factors used in ap12 plying the limitation with respect to 

13 medical and surgical benefits in the 

14 same classification. 

15 ‘‘(iii) GUIDANCE.—The Secretary, in 

16 cooperation with the Secretaries of Health 

17 and Human Services and Labor, as appro18 priate, shall issue guidance to group health 

19 plans on how to satisfy the requirements of 

20 this section with respect to making infor21 mation available to current and potential 

22 participants and beneficiaries. Such infor23 mation shall include certificate of coverage 

24 documents and instruments under which 

25 the plan involved is administered and operVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:55 Jan 04, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4276.IH H4276

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1 ated that specify, include, or refer to pro2 cedures, formulas, and methodologies ap3 plied to determine a participant or bene4 ficiary’s benefit under the plan, regardless 

5 of whether such information is contained 

6 in a document designated as the ‘plan doc7 ument’. Such guidance shall include a dis8 closure of how the plan involved has pro9 vided that processes, strategies, evidentiary 

10 standards, and other factors used in apply11 ing the NQTL to mental health or sub12 stance use disorder benefits are com13 parable to, and applied no more stringently 

14 than, the processes, strategies, evidentiary 

15 standards, or other factors used in apply16 ing the limitation with respect to medical 

17 and surgical benefits in the same classi18 fication. 

19 ‘‘(iv) DEFINITIONS.—In this para20 graph, the terms ‘non-quantitative treat21 ment limitations’, ‘comparable to’, and ‘ap22 plied no more stringently than’ have the 

23 meanings given such terms in sections 146 

24 and 147 of title 45, Code of Federal Regu25 lations (or any successor regulation). 


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1 ‘‘(B) ENFORCEMENT.— 

2 ‘‘(i) PROCESS FOR COMPLAINTS.—The 

3 Secretary, in cooperation with the Secre4 taries of Health and Human Services and 

5 Labor, as appropriate, shall, with respect 

6 to group health plans, issue guidance to 

7 clarify the process and timeline for current 

8 and potential participants and beneficiaries 

9 (and authorized representatives and health 

10 care providers of such participants and 

11 beneficiaries) with respect to such plans to 

12 file formal complaints of such plans being 

13 in violation of this section, including guid14 ance, by plan type, on the relevant State, 

15 regional, and national offices with which 

16 such complaints should be filed. 

17 ‘‘(ii) AUTHORITY FOR PUBLIC EN18 FORCEMENT.—The Secretary, in consulta19 tion with the Secretaries of Labor and the 

20 Treasury, shall make available to the pub21 lic on the Consumer Parity Portal website 

22 established under section 2726(a)(7) of the 

23 Public Health Service Act de-identified in24 formation on audits and investigations of 


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1 group health plans conducted under this 

2 section. 

3 ‘‘(iii) AUDITS.— 

4 ‘‘(I) RANDOMIZED AUDITS.—The 

5 Secretary in cooperation with the Sec6 retaries of Health and Human Serv7 ices and Labor, is authorized to con8 duct randomized audits of group 

9 health plans to determine compliance 

10 with this section. Such audits shall be 

11 conducted on no fewer than twelve 

12 plans per plan year. Information from 

13 such audits shall be made plainly 

14 available on the Consumer Parity Por15 tal website established under section 

16 2726(a)(7) of the Public Health Serv17 ice Act. 

18 ‘‘(II) ADDITIONAL AUDITS.—In 

19 the case of a group health plan with 

20 respect to which any claim has been 

21 filed during a plan year, the Secretary 

22 may audit the books and records of 

23 such plan to determine compliance 

24 with this section. Information detail25 ing the results of the audit shall be 


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1 made available on the Consumer Par2 ity Portal website established under 

3 section 2726(a)(7) of the Public 

4 Health Service Act. 

5 ‘‘(iv) DENIAL RATES.—The Secretary 

6 shall collect information on the rates of 

7 and reasons for denial by group health 

8 plans of claims for outpatient and inpa9 tient mental health and substance use dis10 order services compared to the rates of and 

11 reasons for denial of claims for medical 

12 and surgical services. For the first plan 

13 year beginning at least two years after the 

14 date of the enactment of this paragraph 

15 and each subsequent plan year, the Sec16 retary shall submit to the Energy and 

17 Commerce Committee of the House of 

18 Representatives and the Committee on 

19 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of 

20 the Senate, and make plainly available on 

21 the Consumer Parity Portal website under 

22 section 2726(a)(7) of the Public Health 

23 Service Act, the information collected 

24 under the previous sentence with respect to 

25 the previous plan year.’’. 


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1 (d) GAO STUDY ON MENTAL HEALTH AND SUB2 STANCE USE PARITY ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS.—Not 

3 later than one year after the date of enactment of this 

4 Act, the Comptroller General of the United States, in con5 sultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Serv6 ices, the Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary of the 

7 Treasury, shall submit to Congress, and make plainly 

8 available on the Consumer Parity Portal website under 

9 paragraph (7) of section 2726(a) of the Public Health 

10 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg–26(a)), as added by sub11 section (a), a report detailing the enforcement efforts of 

12 the responsible departments and agencies in implementing 

13 sections 2726 of the Public Health Service Act 42 U.S.C. 

14 300gg–26), 712 of the Employee Retirement Income Se15 curity Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1185a), and 9812 of the 

16 Internal Revenue Code of 1986, including— 

17 (1) the number of investigations and audits 

18 that have been conducted into potential parity viola19 tions; and 

20 (2) details on the investigation, audits, or en21 forcement action that was carried out as a result of 

22 such investigations that would not identify the sub23 ject of such investigation or enforcement. 

24 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

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1 cal years 2016 through 2020 to carry out this section, in2 cluding the amendments made by this section. 

Æ 


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