Health Affairs March 4, 2024
There is a growing mental health crisis among older adults: 20–30 percent of older adults older than the age of 65 report symptoms of anxiety or depression, and older adults exhibit the highest rate of suicidal ideation of any age group. However, only a fraction of affected Medicare beneficiaries receive treatment.
Recent work has uncovered critical issues with access to mental health providers in Medicare. Only 55 percent of mental health providers will see beneficiaries in traditional fee-for-service Medicare, the large government-run plan. Similarly, in the privately administered Medicare Advantage system, an estimated 65 percent of plans have narrow mental health provider networks, a rate that is substantially higher than in other privately managed insurance plans.
This lack of access...
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