Kaiser Permanente mental health workers strike at Kaiser Headquarters in Oakland on Oct. 7, 2022. Photo by Martin do Nascimento, CalMattersA 2020 California law expanded the number of mental health conditions that insurers must cover. Now, lawmakers are reviewing whether the law is working as intended.As the state’s residents struggled with the stress and trauma of a raging pandemic and a record wildfire season, mental health advocates used words like “groundbreaking” to describe the new law.
“We know the plans have a long history of finding ways not to cover mental health treatment,” he told CalMatters. “The whole purpose of this law is to put an end to that.”Prior to the passage of the 2020 law, the state only required health plans to cover medically necessary treatment of nine serious mental illnesses.
The Department of Managed Health Care declined to make anyone available to speak with CalMatters until later this fall. In an email, a representative said the department “is committed to ensuring enrollees have appropriate access to behavioral health care when they need it.” But when it comes to ensuring that health plans maintain adequate provider networks, he said, the department is “failing miserably.” Too often, plans offer their members only outdated lists of providers who then prove to be unavailable, Bendat said. The Department of Managed Health Care hasn’t adequately held plans accountable for this and other problematic practices, he said.