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Health Care

America’s Mental Barrier

How Insurers Interfere With Mental Health Care

American insurance companies — quietly, and with little government pushback — have assumed an outsize role in mental health care. People in pain are paying the price.

Impact of Our Reporting
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America’s Mental Barrier

He Died Without Getting Mental Health Care He Sought. A New Lawsuit Says His Insurer’s Ghost Network Is to Blame.

The mother of Ravi Coutinho, the subject of a recent ProPublica investigation, is suing Centene for publishing “misleading” information that gave her son a false impression about the kinds of mental health care that were actually available.

by Max Blau,

America’s Mental Barrier

Insurers Failed to Comply With Mental Health Coverage Law, Department of Labor Report Finds

The probe found widespread noncompliance and violations of federal law in how health plans and insurers cover mental health care, echoing the findings of a recent ProPublica investigation.

by Duaa Eldeib, Maya Miller, Annie Waldman and Max Blau,

10 stories published since 2024

Her Mental Health Treatment Was Helping. That’s Why Insurance Cut Off Her Coverage.

by Maya Miller and Duaa Eldeib,

Insurers Continue to Rely on Doctors Whose Judgments Have Been Criticized by Courts

by Duaa Eldeib and Maya Miller, with research by Kirsten Berg,

UnitedHealth Is Strategically Limiting Access to Critical Treatment for Kids With Autism

by Annie Waldman,

How UnitedHealth’s Playbook for Limiting Mental Health Coverage Puts Countless Americans’ Treatment at Risk

by Annie Waldman,

State Regulators Know Health Insurance Directories Are Full of Wrong Information. They’re Doing Little to Fix It.

by Max Blau,

New Biden Administration Rules Aim to Hold Insurers Accountable for Mental Health Care Coverage

by Maya Miller and Annie Waldman,

“I Don’t Want to Die”: Needing Mental Health Care, He Got Trapped in His Insurer’s Ghost Network

by Max Blau, illustrations by Vanessa Saba, special to ProPublica,

Struggling to Find an In-Network Mental Health Provider? Here’s What You Can Do.

by Max Blau,

What Mental Health Care Protections Exist in Your State?

by Annie Waldman and Maya Miller,

Why It’s So Hard to Find a Therapist Who Takes Insurance

by Annie Waldman, Maya Miller, Duaa Eldeib and Max Blau, photography by Tony Luong, design by Zisiga Mukulu,

What We’re Watching

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Learn more about our reporting team. We will continue to share our areas of interest as the news develops.

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Sharon Lerner

I cover health and the environment and the agencies that govern them, including the Environmental Protection Agency.

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Andy Kroll

I cover justice and the rule of law, including the Justice Department, U.S. attorneys and the courts.

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Melissa Sanchez

I report on immigration and labor, and I am based in Chicago.

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Jesse Coburn

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