20% Of MassHealth Medicaid MCO/ACO Plan Spending Is For Behavioral Health

Health plans in Massachusetts that provided coverage for Medicaid recipients spent $561.6 million – 20.1% of total spending – on behavioral health in 2022. The data is based on mental health (MH) and substance use disorder (SUD) services paid by the state’s Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) or Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). About $401.7 million (14.4%) of total MCO/ACO spending was on mental health services, and $159.9 million (5.7%) was on SUD services.

By contrast, the state’s commercial health plans in 2022 spent $1.4 billion (7.5%) of total commercial spending on . . .