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Joanne Roskey Quoted on Impact of EBSA Funding on Mental Health Parity and NSA in Law360

Subtitle
"Decline in EBSA Funding May Hurt Mental Health Parity Efforts"

Law360

Joanne Roskey, a former Chief of the Division of Health Investigations in the Department of Labor's (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), Office of Enforcement, commented on EBSA's latest budget request noting, that it may have to scale back its efforts to implement federal mental health parity laws and the No Surprises Act (NSA) by 2025. According to a congressional budget justification for EBSA, included in President Biden's Budget for Fiscal Year 2025, more resources are needed because funding for more than 100 full-time employees devoted to those efforts expires at the end of 2024. "It's a significant issue for the agency and the employees of the agency," Roskey said. She acknowledged that in the wake of the fiscal year 2021 appropriations bill, EBSA had to "aggressively hire over the course of a short period of time," to implement a new law on mental health parity and the NSA, as well as "develop a process for carrying out the new enforcement mandates." Roskey further noted that "[EBSA] will have to make hard choices if they don't get the funding to continue at the level that they currently have."