Getting Insurance to Cover Mental Health

People often face many barriers in getting needed insurance coverage for mental health problems. There’s now a new source of help.

Pexels / Leeloo The First

Key points

• Patients and families often encounter roadblocks in getting healthcare covered by insurance.
• Coverage for mental health is uniquely difficult, due to stigma and lack of parity, despite regulations.
• When health-related strain is at its height, the last thing anyone needs is having to navigate red tape.
• Equipping patients and families with knowledge and tools is a game-changer.

Despite the existence of parity laws mandating health plans to cover mental ailments comparably to physical ailments, denials and burdensome reviews interfere with treatment. As a practicing physician and mental health advocate, I often find that patients and clinicians are frustrated with barriers to necessary and deserved care.

The same is true across many specialties, and we’ve probably all heard horror stories of insurance companies denying life-preserving coverage. With mental health, which carries a stigma that already deters people from seeking care, the last thing anyone needs are more hurdles.