Rhode Island’s Health Insurance Commissioner is completing examinations of three major insurers following complaints that they’ve been discriminating in covering mental health care.
Health reporter Lynn Arditi recently spoke with Marilyn, a single-mother who pays more than $500 a month for psychiatric care for her teenage daughter because her providers aren’t part of her insurance company’s network. (We’re not using their last name to protect their privacy.)
State and federal laws require health insurance plans to provide coverage of mental health and substance-use disorders under the same terms and conditions as coverage for other illnesses and diseases. The law also mandates plans offer adequate in-network providers.
Last September, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island agreed to contribute $5 million over the next five years to a new state fund after the state Office of the Health Commissioner (OHIC) found Blue Cross had been improperly denying claims for mental health and addiction treatment.
OHIC is in the process of completing an in-depth examination of Rhode Island’s three other major health insurers — UnitedHealthcare, Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island and Tufts Health Plan. The results of the examinations are expected to be completed sometime in 2019, said Cory King, the agency’s principal policy associate.
The Mental Health Association of Rhode Island, a local advocacy group, this week launched a statewide public awareness campaign to education residents about their rights to health insurance coverage for mental health and addiction treatment and services.