[kenjackson]

Is mental health treatment not covered in a lot of health plans?

I'm not a fan of involuntarily committing people. But I do want to make it as easy (and as cheap) as possible to get good mental treatment if they need it. I've seen the results of good therapists, and it is no less impactful than a good surgeon.

[tombert]

In a sister reply apparently it's not hard to get mental health treatment in California, so I won't speak to that. Where I lived (and currently live) in NYC, it was hard for me to find cheap therapy, as it does not appear they require mental health plans in the insurance (though I'm not a lawyer, so maybe there's more recent legislation).

There are free clinics for it, and of course those are good things and the doctors there are doing the lord's work, but they're extremely backed up. I looked to make an appointment at the time, and the soonest one was four months away. Compare this to the two-day wait I had when I finally did manage to get better insurance.

[okareaman]

> there's more recent legislation

California decided it liked Obamacare and the idea of Medicare for all, so I think that's when they made Covered California available for people who couldn't otherwise afford it. It might actually save money because there are less emergency room visits.