What plans are good about providing mental health coverage?

To estimate the actuarial value of the MH benefit packages described in one survey, the Hay Group used its Mental Health Benefit Value Comparison (MHBVC) model. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the Congressional Research Service, and firms in the private sector have used this model.  

The values of the MH benefit packages described in this report are estimates of health plan expenditures, including the health plan's administrative costs per adult for a typical population of insured employees and their dependents. To compute the actuarial values of a benefit package, the MHBVC model relies on distributions of actual health care claims data for several types of services (such as inpatient and outpatient mental health and substance abuse treatment). For HMO, POS, PPO, and indemnity plans, the MHBVC model determines how much the health plan would pay for each patient in a distribution, based on the services covered by the plan and the plan's service limits and cost-sharing requirements. The model includes assumptions about administrative costs, level of utilization management in each plan, and consumer responses to changes in out-of-pocket costs. The model then calculates a weighted average across consumers.