Obamacare Helps Young Adults Get Mental Health Treatment

Posted on August 8, 2014

Photo: flickr

Despite all the hype and hand-wringing done over Obamacare — aka the Affordable Care Act — there's a lot of good coming already from its implementation. And if some politicians want to undo this good, they may find themselves up against an increasing vocal minority of their citizens who’ve benefited.

The latest data suggests that we've seen a rise in young adults who seek out mental health treatment, because they're still covered under their parent's insurance due to Obamacare provisions.

The new data comes from a recently published study in Health Affairs and suggests utilization of treatment services rose 5.3 percent for those with Obamacare, versus those without:

Between September 2010, when the Obamacare provision went into effect, and 2012, when the study ended, young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 who had already screened positive for mental disorders or substance abuse increased their use of mental-health treatment by 5.3% compared with a similar group of 26- to 35-year-olds who weren’t eligible for their parents' coverage.

Researchers in the study, published Monday in Health Affairs, also found that due to that same Obamacare provision, the number of mental-health visits the younger group had to pay for out-of-pocket declined by 12.4% compared with the older group.

Young people often have had trouble accessing mental health care when they needed it in the past, because either they’ve been unemployed (unemployment rates are higher amongst younger people than older people), had no insurance even if they did work (which is traditionally what a lot of young people do), or had insurance that had limited mental health benefits (like the ones offered by many colleges and universities). While a college counseling center might see you for test procrastination, they've been largely ill-equipped to handle serious mental illness and students with those kinds of concerns.

To read the full article, please click on the link below.


Category(s):Adult psychological development, Mental Health in Asia, Mental Health Professions

Source material from Psych Central