Commercial Health Plans Found To Have Disparities In Access For Behavioral Health Treatment

Many commercial health plan designs include treatment limitations on behavioral health that create barriers to in-network access for mental health and addiction treatment. In a review of claims and health plan enrollment data for 22 million individuals in 2019, 2020, and 2021, health plan members went out of network 3.5 times more often in 2021 to see a behavioral health professional than to see a medical/surgical professional, at 13.4% compared to 3.8%. The disparities in out-of-network use were higher for addiction treatment than for mental health treatment.

Out-of-network office visits were . . .