WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, asked President Biden's nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Xavier Becerra, during his confirmation hearing about pricing transparency in our health care system and mental health parity.

"We have a great bipartisan coalition on [mental health parity] because we've already got a law on the books that says insurers have to cover mental health just like they cover physical health. But we know that that's not really how it works out there. Anybody who's got a child with a mental health diagnosis can tell you they gotta go through hoops and red tape and bureaucracy that nobody has to go through when they are trying to get cancer treatment or reimbursement for an orthopedic procedure," said Murphy.

"Tell us a little bit about your commitment to this issue––how you think that HHS can really push forward. Because we don't necessarily have to spend a lot more money here. We can just make sure insurance companies are actually providing the benefit that they have promised to people, and we'll get a whole bunch more mental health coverage paid for," Murphy continued.

In December, Murphy met virtually with Becerra to discuss the importance of a coordinated, science-driven approach to tackling COVID-19, and the need to protect and expand the Affordable Care Act, improve access to mental health services, and strengthen U.S. engagement as a leader on global health. Murphy has been a staunch advocate to increase mental health availability across Connecticut. In2020, Murphy and U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.), successfully included the Mental Health Parity Compliance Act of 2019 in the end of year spending package. It would strengthen compliance with mental health parity laws by requiring issuers or plans to submit comparative analyses upon request from federal and state oversight agencies. In 2016, Murphy and Cassidy also co-authored the bipartisan Mental Health Reform Act in 2016, which was signed into law by President Obama.

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