The law makes mental and behavioral health treatment one of 10 essential benefits required in new insurance policies sold on the federal health exchange as well as to patients on Medicaid. That provides a promising path toward comprehensive coverage of mental illness, equal to that of medical and surgical needs.
But coverage of care for disorders including schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, childhood behavioral disorders and addiction are far from assured for all Americans.
For now, mental health coverage is rife with state-by-state disparities; and within states, attempts to include it range from almost nonexistent to a variety of creative experiments with Medicaid coverage.