Mental health

 NPR - Living with mental health struggles can impact your everyday life. So when it comes to getting the help you need, you don’t want it to be a hassle. Unfortunately, getting mental health care covered by insurance can be tough. ProPublica talked with more than 500 psychologists, psychiatrists and therapists who shared their experiences when it came to joining health insurance networks, which the medical professionals hoped would help those who cannot afford to pay out of pocket.

Although federal law requires insurers to provide the same access to mental and physical health care, they have been caught, time and again, shortchanging customers with mental illness. This can be in the form of restricting coverage or delaying or even denying treatment. Industry insiders told ProPublica that patients whose disorders can be chronic and costly are bad for business. And although almost all Americans are insured, about half of people with mental illness are unable to get treatment.

The consequences can be devastating. Often the insurers, not the therapists, determine who can get treatment, what kind they can get and for how long. To understand the issue at its core, reporters spoke to hundreds of therapists who left their insurance networks to find out why...

Insurers generally face few limitations on how they define what mental health care is medically necessary, often creating their own internal standards instead of relying on ones developed by nonprofit professional medical societies. The internal standards can then be used to challenge diagnoses or treatment plans.  

Here’s a closer look at where your state stands when it comes to laws protecting patients.