Biden administration pushing insurers to improve access to mental health
treatment
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[July 25, 2023]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden is making a fresh push
to force health insurance companies to improve access to mental health
treatment for Americans who too often struggle to find and afford the
care they need, officials said on Tuesday.
The administration on Tuesday will release the text of a proposed rule
change to the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. Biden
will make remarks about the plan on Tuesday afternoon.
The rule change would require health plans to make changes when they are
providing inadequate access to mental health care.
It would also provide specific examples that make clear that health
plans cannot use more restrictive prior authorization, other medical
management techniques or narrower networks that make it harder for
people to access mental health and substance use disorder benefits.
"Despite the repeated bipartisan efforts aimed at mental health parity,
insurers too often make it difficult to access mental health treatment,
causing millions of consumers to seek care out-of-network at
significantly higher costs and pay out of pocket, or defer care
altogether," the White House said in a fact sheet announcing the rule
change proposal.
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U.S. President Joe Biden departs Holy
Trinity Catholic Church in Washington, U.S., July 22, 2023.
REUTERS/Julia Nikhinson/File photo
The proposed text will be open to
public comment for 60 days and administration officials said they
expected it would go into effect sometime afterward.
The White House fact sheet cited one study it said
showed that insured people are well more than twice as likely to be
forced to go out-of-network and pay higher fees for mental health
care than for physical health care.
"We've learned that insurers are evading the mandate of the law,"
White House domestic adviser Neera Tanden said in a conference call
with reporters.
A U.S. study in 2017 said that people with serious psychological
distress, which includes any mental illness severe enough to require
treatment, are three times more likely to be too poor to afford care
and 10 times more likely to be unable to pay for medications.
(Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Jamie Freed)
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