Following the release of a new study, mental health advocates are warning that corporate insurance companies continue to delay and deny access to critical mental health services, perpetuating significant barriers to care for those who need it most. The dire warnings come as corporate insurers “bash” attempts to close the mental health coverage gap.
The study was conducted by actuarial firm Milliman for Inseparable, a national nonprofit supporting improved access to mental health services. Milliman’s key findings include:
- Of the millions of Americans who experienced a mental health condition, two-thirds did not receive covered treatment.
- Among Americans with corporate health insurance, less than one-third (30.7%) of those with a mental health condition received specialty mental healthcare—significantly lower than the proportion of those with Medicaid who received specialty treatment (44.3%).
“We kept hearing nightmare stories about Americans not getting the treatment that they needed because insurance companies were denying them care,” Inseparable founder Bill Smith told NPR, adding that the mental health treatment gap “won’t close unless private insurance companies” change their practices.
Inseparable also released individual state mental health access scorecards, as well as a policy brief outlining proposed solutions to hold corporate insurers accountable and close the mental health coverage gap. Those resources, as well as Milliman’s full report, are available here.