Assessment of Behavioral Health Services Use among Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries after Reductions in Coinsurance Fees

Question: Was the implementation of behavioral health coinsurance parity in Medicare associated with outpatient behavioral health care use or spending among low-income beneficiaries with serious mental illness? Findings: In this cohort study of 793?275 Medicare beneficiaries, out-of-pocket costs for outpatient behavioral health care decreased among those with cost-sharing reductions, but behavioral health care use and spending were similar among beneficiaries with reductions in coinsurance for this care and beneficiaries with free care.