Medicare Cost-Sharing Parity For Mental Health Treatment Linked To An Increase In Outpatient Mental Health Visits & Out-Of-Pocket Costs

Medicare beneficiaries with depression made more outpatient mental health visits on average and had higher annual average out-of-pocket costs after Medicare established cost-sharing parity in 2014 for mental health services, according to an analysis of utilization and costs before and after parity was implemented. In 2008, before Medicare cost-sharing parity went live, 67.1% of beneficiaries with depression had at least one outpatient mental health visit annually. By 2019, 99.8% of beneficiaries with depression had at least one outpatient mental health visit annually. The proportion with two or more visits increased from 60.5% in . . .