Government Healthcare Policy, Business and Technology

Medicaid plans can now pay mental health institutions. Most won't until 2017

Modern Healthcare: A policy that lifts a 50-year ban on Medicaid pay for mental health institutions kicked in Tuesday, but it may be months before many enrollees can take advantage of the new coverageSince the creation of Medicaid in 1965, the program has excluded payment for institutions of mental disease (IMDs) for beneficiaries 21 and over. Most residential treatment facilities for mental health and substance-use disorders with more than 16 beds did not qualify for Medicaid reimbursement. At the time Medicaid was created, states were responsible for the care of people with severe mental illness and the federal government did not want to supplant the state funding with federal Medicaid dollars.

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