Private Medicare, Medicaid Plans Exaggerate In-Network Mental Health Options, Watchdogs Say

(By Tony Leys for KFF Health News)

Companies running private Medicare and Medicaid insurance plans inaccurately list many mental health professionals as being available to treat the plans’ members, a new federal watchdog report says.

The investigators allege that some insurers effectively set up “ghost networks” of psychologists, psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals who purportedly have agreed to treat patients covered by the publicly financed Medicare and Medicaid plans. In fact, many of those professionals do not have contracts with the plans, do not work at the locations listed, or are retired, the investigators said. Continue reading here…

Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit national health polity news service that is part of the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

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