Mental Health Insurance Only – Is It A Part Of Your Health Insurance?

Is Mental Health Insurance Only covered separately or should you simply rely on your health insurance? Here’s an overview to help you better understand your options for Mental Health Insurance!

According to the World Health Organization, one out of every four people around the world is affected by mental illness or mental disorder at some point in their lives. Moreover, according to Mental Health America, almost 45 million of their citizens are suffering from a mental health condition, and unfortunately, 26 million of them have been left untreated.

We understand that mental health services are nowhere financially affordable for most people, whether it’s a short-term or long-term treatment. People often forego mental health care simply because they aren’t able to afford it or feel there’s a sense of shame attached to it.

It’s important to know that every country has its guidelines and laws when it comes to health insurance coverage. But, in recent years, most countries have made it mandatory for mental illnesses to be covered under private or public health insurance.

Do Most Insurances Cover Mental Health

When purchasing health insurance, a lot of times, people fail to realize that they might have coverage for mental health within their health insurance plan. Of course, not all health insurance companies are obligated to include mental health coverage in their health plans.

Hence, why you need to understand your mental health coverage, or if there is no such coverage on your health  plan, you should know how to get one

Health Insurance Provider

First and foremost, you should be aware of all sorts of coverage when you have a health plan. Your health insurance plan might have a detailed breakdown of where you’re eligible to receive your health services.

However, if that is no that case, it is much more important now to reach out to your health service provider to get all the necessary details about how much coverage are you entitled to and who should you approach.

We’ve listed down a few questions that you can ask:

  • Ask your provider if they make use of health insurance networks and do they go about it. These networks in many ways put a limitation on who you can get your treatment from and if it’s reimbursed.
  • Ask your provider if you’ve to make co-payments when you go to receive the treatment. Co-payments are an amount of money that you may have to pay out of your pocket if the health plan only covers a percentage of the treatment.
  • Ask your provider about deductibles. These differ from one health plan to another, so it’s important to know how much are you entitled to.

Can You Claim For Mental Health

This is a question most asked when it comes to mental health insurance. Can you claim for mental health on your health insurance plan? Eligibility thoroughly depends on the insurance plan you have opted for.

Certain plans offer limited or no benefits at all when it comes to mental health and even more so, they might have high deductibles when claiming for these treatments. Whereas, other health plans may be the opposite.

If you indeed have great health insurance that barely covers mental health, you should probably reconsider it, because your emotional well being surpasses everything.

Purchasing Mental Health Insurance

As compared to the coverage for optical or dental needs in your health insurance plan, there aren’t many health insurance options that specifically cover mental healthcare. And when it’s available, mental health coverage falls within the framework of a mental health insurance policy.

If you’re looking to purchase new health insurance, and would rather only consider health plans that provide full coverage of mental health needs, visit https://www.healthcare.gov/get-coverage/ to get more information.

Moreover, you should refer to your state’s health insurance exchange and ask about the Obamacare plan or research on the individual policies that are available in your area that may not be offered on the insurance exchange.

Here are some tips that may help you further:

  • If your income is significantly moderate, you might be eligible to pay your monthly health insurance fees, if you opt to go for a health plan on the Affordable Care Act health insurance exchange.
  • If you’ve got a basic health insurance plan that doesn’t have mental health coverage, try considering shifting to a High-Deductible Health Plan that ultimately covers mental health services.

Which Insurance Is Best For Mental Health

Since we’ve discussed how to go about in finding out if your health insurance plan covers mental health services and how can you purchase health plans that cover mental illness, we’ll now be sharing some insurance plans that are best for mental health in America.

Medicare

There are 3 insurance plans offered by Medicare. Medicare insurance provides mental health benefits for outpatient services, inpatient treatment, and prescription drugs. We’ve explained all the 3 plans below:

Medicare Health Insurance Plans Benefits
Medicare Part A – Hospital Insurance Covers all inpatient mental healthcare services provided in a hospital such as your meals, room, nursing, etc, that a
Medicare Part B – Medical Insurance Any mental health service received elsewhere, that includes visits to another doctor or psychiatrist, clinical social worker or clinical psychologist, and if your doctor ordered any lab tests.
Medicare Part C – Prescription Drug Insurance This will be covering a large portion of costs that were spent on prescriptions to treat any particular mental health condition.

Also, even if you’re 65 years or older, there may be a chance for you to be eligible for Medicare Insurance. Moreover, a specific kind of sub-category of Medicare Advantage plans knows as the Special Needs Plan might benefit you if you have particularly sensitive mental healthcare needs.

Medicaid

Medicaid insurance provides a wide range of health coverage services, even for low-income individuals and people who have disabilities. Of course, you still need to meet their income eligibility for their insurance.

Medicaid is closely administered and continuously evolving according to each state, and its federal boundaries. Therefore, you should reach out to them and understand how far is their mental health coverage, as it varies from one state to another.

If you have a severe or chronic mental illness that perhaps makes it nearly impossible for you to work, you might still be eligible for Medicaid’s disability benefits. This would also include the mental health benefits provides by your current state’s Medicaid insurance plan.

United Healthcare

United Healthcare has a wide range of mental health service providers to help treat those suffering from mental health illnesses. Their website offers a host of resources and tools that one can use as a form of preliminary screening tool if they’re concerned about their mental health.

Their behavioral health benefits offer individuals with an all-day, all-week confidential support for tendencies of anxiety, depression, PTSD, psychiatric disorders, etc. Moreover, this can be done via video conference if you feel you’re not able to do a physical one-to-one session.

If you’re not or haven’t been diagnosed with any form of mental illness, but you have a keen interest in exploring healthier emotional wellbeing for yourself, United is more than likely to help you achieve so.

Aetna

Aetna health insurance plans are mainly focused on mental health. They offer employed Medicaid and Medicare plans. This has always appealed to employees who are continuously working in a high-stress environment.

Aetna’s website has several mental health screening tools, and the navigation is easy which makes finding therapists, doctors, and psychiatric professionals much simpler and less complicated than usual.

Moreover, Aetna provides programs targeting specific mental illnesses, especially if it’s chronic.

Kaiser Permanente

Before you delve into this section, check Kaiser Permanente’s website to confirm if you’re in 1 of the 9 states that their insurance qualifies in.

Kaiser Permanente is currently only offering their insurance plans in 9 states. However, they provide a vast range of mental health services and they have listed all the information clearly on their site.

You can use their services to get a better understanding of what exactly should you be expecting in your first psychiatric appointment, as it can be quite nerve-wracking. Furthermore, there are many stress management tools available.

Kaiser Permanente also offers customized treatment options, which is a great way of beginning your mental health treatment. Their treatment assessments are of this highest level of sensitivity so you have nothing to worry about.

Conclusion

The question of whether does health insurance covers mental illness as well, is as mentioned, subjective to each insurance policy and the state’s regulations. However, we’ve shared some mental illness insurance plans that solely emphasize on mental healthcare.

Claiming for mental health on your health plan may take some time for you to understand BUT, do know that it is your right to know what health coverage does your insurance provide you with.

Do not hesitate to shift to an insurance plan if that meets your mental health well-being. We hope, this was an informative read for you and helped you in understanding your options.

Charles Bains

Charles Bains

Charles Bains started his insurance career as a marketing intern before pounding the pavement as a commercial lines agent in Orlando, FL. As an industry journalist, his articles have appeared in a variety of trade publications. His insurance television career, short-lived but glorious, once saw him serve as the expert adviser on an insurance-themed infomercial (yes, you read that correctly). Having recently worked for various organizations, coupled with his broader insurance knowledge, Charles is able to understand our client’s needs and guide them accordingly. He is a gem for Insurance Noon as his wide area of expertise and experience have been beneficial in conducting further researches to come up with solutions and writing them in a manner which is easy for everyone including beginners to comprehend.

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