Insurance coverage for mental and physical illness remains unequal despite promises that Obamacare would help level the playing field, mental health advocates and researchers say.

A new study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that consumer information on a quarter of the Obamacare plans that researchers examined appeared to go against a federal “parity” law designed to stop discrimination in coverage for people with mental health or addiction problems.

This makes it nearly impossible for consumers to find the best plan to cover their mental health needs, the research suggests.

“It’s critical to monitor whether these regulations are being implemented in a way that fulfills the promise of parity,” says associate professor Colleen Barry, who led the study published in the current online issue of the journal Psychiatric Services. “Clearly, better monitoring is needed.”

Barry and her colleagues examined benefit brochures offered during the first Affordable Care Act enrollment period in 2013-14 in two state-run exchanges, hoping to replicate a consumer’s shopping experience. Although she won’t name the states, Barry says one was large and the other small, and adds that the results can be extrapolated to plans offered in other states and on the federal exchange.

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Jeffrey R. Ungvary President