A rising number of U.S. children require mental health services New research shows those services are more easily accessed in states that mandate insurance coverage for pediatric mental health treatment Even when insurance coverage is mandated, co-pays and high deductibles can still get in the way TUESDAY, Aug.
13, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Kids more often get the psychiatric care they need if they live in states that mandate insurance coverage for child mental health care, a new study confirms. Parents and caregivers were 20% less likely to say they'd had trouble getting mental health services for a child if they lived in states with comprehensive laws around mental and behavioral health insurance coverage, reported a team from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Going without needed mental health services can lead to tragedy, study lead author Dr.
Ashley Foster said. “Unfortunately, in my own practice, I regularly see children who are unable to access needed mental health care, and their symptoms continue to worsen until they reach a crisis point,” said Foster, a pediatric emergency care physician at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. The need is real: A poll released last month by the U.
S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found that nearly a third of American adolescents and teens received some sort of mental health treatment in 2023. SAMHSA noted that rates of adolescents getting mental health treatment has increased v.