How policymakers innovate around behavioral health: adoption of the New Mexico "No Behavioral Health Cost-Sharing" law.

State policymakers have long sought to improve access to mental health and substance use disorder (MH/SUD) treatment through insurance market reforms. Examining decisions made by innovative policymakers ("policy entrepreneurs") can inform the potential scope and limits of legislative reform. Beginning in 2022, New Mexico became the first state to eliminate cost-sharing for MH/SUD treatment in private insurance plans subject to state regulation. Based on key informant interviews (n = 30), this study recounts the law's passage and intended impact. Key facilitators to the law's passage included receptive leadership, legislative champions with medical and insurance backgrounds, the use of local research evidence, advocate testimony, support from health industry figures, the severity of MH/SUD, and increased attention to MH/SUD during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings have important implications for states considering similar laws to improve access to MH/SUD treatment.

O direito à internação psiquiátrica no sistema de saúde brasileiro: as representações sociais do Tribunal de Justiça de São Paulo / The right to psychiatric admission in the Brazilian health system: the São Paulo Court of Justice' social representations

Este artigo teve como objetivo analisar as representações sociais do Tribunal de Justiça de São Paulo sobre o direito à internação psiquiátrica no sistema de saúde brasileiro. Os dados foram coletados do sítio eletrônico do tribunal paulista, a partir de 184 acórdãos de ações julgadas em segunda instância, proferidos em razão de recursos de apelação e publicados no período de janeiro de 1998 a dezembro de 2012, referentes às internações psiquiátricas pleiteadas no Sistema Único de Saúde e no sistema de saúde suplementar. Os métodos empregados para análise dos resultados foram a estatística descritiva e o discurso do sujeito coletivo. Aplicou-se, ainda, a Teoria das Representações Sociais como referencial teórico de interpretação dos discursos elaborados. No Sistema Único de Saúde, a internação reclamada em juízo foi a compulsória, representada, majoritariamente, como medida de proteção da dignidade da pessoa com transtorno mental e, minoritariamente, como violência contra essa mesma dignidade. No sistema suplementar, a representação judicial assumiu o enfoque consumerista, consubstanciado na abusividade da cláusula limitativa da internação psiquiátrica e no direito superior à vida. O direito à saúde, vislumbrado nas decisões judiciais, resumiu-se ao direito de acesso aos serviços de saúde e ao direito à doença. A compreensão do Poder Judiciário, nos dois sistemas investigados, foi a do direito à saúde como o direito ao bem de saúde pleiteado em juízo, o que coloca muitos desafios para os sistemas de saúde e para o Poder Judiciário frente à consolidação dos ideais da reforma psiquiátrica estatuída pela Lei n. 10.216/2001.

The current research sought to present the social representations of judges from the São Paulo Court of Justice about the law regarding psychiatric admissions. Data were collected through the court website, from 184 judgments including all the decisions published between January 1998, and December 2012, regarding psychiatric admissions claimed to both the Brazilian Public Health System, and the private insurance health system. As methods, the author used descriptive statistics and the collective subject speech. The Social Representations Theory was applied as a theoretical framework to interpret the collected speeches. Considering Brazilian Public Health System, the admissions claimed on the court were compulsory and judges presented the psychiatric admissions, mostly, as a protection measure of people with mental disorders dignity and, at a lower degree, as a violence against this same dignity. With respect to the private insurance health system, the judicial representation was related to the consumerist approach, supported by the abuse of a clause restricting the time for psychiatric admissions and its contradiction with the right to life. The right to health was characterized in the decisions as the right of access to health services and the right to be ill. The comprehension of the judges in both investigated systems related the right to health to the right to a health as a good claimed in court, imposing many challenges to health systems and the Judiciary Power in order to consolidate the principles of the psychiatric reform brought by Law n. 10.216/2001.

Changes in Healthcare Expenditures After the Autism Insurance Mandate.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, most U.S. states have passed autism mandates requiring private insurers to cover autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Little is known about the post-mandate changes in healthcare expenditures. METHOD: This study utilized 2006-2012 de-identified insurance claims data from the largest insurer in Pennsylvania (PA), where the mandate went into effect in 2009. Healthcare expenditures were defined as the amount the insurer paid for healthcare services and were adjusted to 2012 price level. A mixed model approach was used to analyze the expenditures. RESULTS: A total of 9,471 children with ASD were included in the study. Although the pre-mandate total expenditures per child with ASD were similar, the post-mandate expenditures significantly increased for groups subject to the autism mandate (87% increase from $7,754 in 2008 to $14,486 in 2010) compared to the exempt groups (27% increase from $7,238 to $9,171). By insurance type, the change from 2008 to 2010 in ASD-related expenditures per child with ASD was $8,439 for fully insured large employer sponsored plans and $43 for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), both subject to the PA mandate; and $2,631 for the self-insured, $980 for small-employers, and $-92 for individual plans, all of which are exempt from the mandate. These increases were due to outpatient services but not inpatient or drug costs. CONCLUSIONS: Healthcare expenditures increased significantly following the PA autism mandate. Nonexempt, large employer groups had the largest increase in spending. Some exempt, self-insured companies may have voluntarily covered ASD services, leading to a moderate increase.

Insurance status impacts treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma.

INTRODUCTION AND AIM: Previous studies have identified treatment disparities in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) based on insurance status and provider. Recent studies have shown more Americans have healthcare insurance; therefore we aim to determine if treatment disparities based on insurance providers continue to exist. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective database analysis using the NIS was performed between 2010 and 2013 including adult patients with a primary diagnosis of HCC determined by ICD-9 codes. Multivariable logistic regressions were performed to analyze differences in treatment, mortality, features of decompensation, and metastatic disease based on the patient's primary payer. RESULTS: This study included 62,368 patients. Medicare represented 44% of the total patients followed by private insurance (27%), Medicaid (19%), and other payers (10%). Patients with Medicare, Medicaid, and other payer were less likely to undergo liver transplantation [(OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.47-0.84), (OR 0.23, 95% CI 0.15-0.33), (OR 0.26, 95% CI 0.15-0.45)] and surgical resection [(OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.63-0.87), (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.32-0.51), (OR 0.42, 95% CI 0.32-0.54)] than patients with private insurance. Medicaid patients were less likely to undergo ablation then patients with private insurance (OR 0.52, 95% CI 0.40-0.68). Patients with other forms of insurance were less likely to undergo transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) compared to private insurance (OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.43-0.96). CONCLUSION: Insurance status impacts treatment for HCC. Patients with private insurance are more likely to undergo curative therapies of liver transplantation and surgical resection compared to patients with government funded insurance.

Una nueva propuesta de reforma neoliberal del sistema de salud chileno / A new neoliberal reform proposal about Chilean health sistem

Una de las primeras medidas que tomó el nuevo gobierno de derecha en Chile, fue formar comisiones de expertos en salud, la mayoría de ellos vinculados al sector privado, para realizar propuestas de cambio en la materia. En 2011, se emitieron los informes que sentaron las bases un proyecto de ley actualmente en discusión. El presente ensayo tiene por finalidad realizar un análisis crítico de la propuesta de cambios, basado fundamentalmente en los planteamientos políticos actuales de la OMS en relación a los sistemas de salud. La propuesta plantea la creación de un plan básico de salud, lo que mantiene la tendencia de delimitación explícita del derecho a la salud, alejando aún más al sistema sanitario de la recomendación de la OMS de reducir la brecha de ofertas de servicios para alcanzar la universalidad. Las principales conclusiones del análisis crítico realizado son que existe un riesgo elevado de aumento de la inequidad en el acceso a la prestación de servicios debido a que las personas con más dinero podrán mantener o aumentar sus beneficios actuales y aquellas con menos ingresos tenderán a disminuir su acceso por el aumento del pago de bolsillo. Se puede asegurar que se trata de una propuesta que consolida las reformas neoliberales instaladas en Chile desde la década del 80.