The Growing Need For Behavioural Health Insurance

Behavioral health is highly prevalent and closely linked with other common chronic diseases, comorbidity with other health conditions, and associated increased health care and expenditure. Spending on behavioral health services is estimated to reach about $239 billion over the next decade, which is 5% of total national health expenditure. These costs have been growing faster than overall health and are predicted to outpace it as the population ages.

Several issues are surrounding behavioral health that needs to be addressed, including reducing stigma around mental illness and encouraging patients to seek treatment for it. These include stress, medication, environmental factors such as low diet and lack of exercise, depression, drug addiction, social isolation and abuse, and exposure to violence. Many other factors can also contribute to the increase in behavioral health costs.

Research has shown that patients with serious mental illness are less likely to receive appropriate treatment, often costly. This makes them at greater risk of severe complications. The increasing costs of health care can also reduce healthcare access, putting patients at greater risk of illness.

Also, patients suffering from behavioral health problems may have an inadequate understanding of the disease and the treatment they may need, leading to a more expensive treatment plan. Many behavioral health patients fail to receive adequate treatment due to limited knowledge and awareness. They are often treated as individuals rather than as a group, resulting in significant gaps in treatment.

Some states provide Medicaid (also known as Medicare) assistance to patients with behavioral problems, but this funding is often not adequate, leading to a greater reliance on private insurance. As a result, it is not uncommon for patients to pay a higher co-payment or deductible for medical care than those with better health insurance policies.

This type of medical care is also misused, resulting in patients turning to alternative treatment forms such as self-medication and other non-medical methods of treating the illness. Many patients suffer from long-term or severe diseases, including depression and schizophrenia, and thus do not have access to the care they need. The increased cost of treatment is often passed on to the insurance companies when they are billed.

Many insurance companies, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of California, are finding it harder to profit as they cannot afford the high cost of treating people with behavioral issues and their associated treatments. They find it challenging to cover a large proportion of their claims because of the poor health conditions.

With the increased number of people suffering from behavioral health problems, the need for behavioral health insurance continues to grow. However, many insurance companies face difficulties in providing coverage because they are over-paying for health insurance and often refuse to cover the full extent of any symptoms or disorders