Private Health Insurance: Access to Individual Market Coverage May Be Restricted for Applicants with Mental Disorders Page: 2 of 32

                                
Contents

Letter

Results in Brief
Background
In A Minority of States, Individual Market Carriers Guarantee
Access to Coverage
In Other States, Applicants with Mental Disorders May be More
Likely to be Denied Coverage
High-Risk Pools Are the Primary Source of Coverage for Applicants
with Mental Disorders Who Are Denied Coverage
Concluding Observations
Comments From External Reviewers

Appendix I                       Scope and Methodology                                          25
Appendix II                      GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments                          27
Related GAO Products                                                                           28
Tables
Table 1: Prevalence of Selected Mental Disorders among Adults
during a 1-Year Period                                  5
Table 2: States that Require Carriers to Guarantee Access to
Coverage                                                10
Table 3: States in Which Certain Carriers Voluntarily Guarantee
Access to Coverage                                      11
Table 4: Likely Underwriting Decisions of Seven Carriers for
Hypothetical Applicants with Selected Mental Disorders  13
Figures
Figure 1: Seven Carriers More Likely to Deny Coverage to
Applicants with Selected Mental Disorders              15
Figure 2: Seven Carriers' Likely Underwriting Decisions for
Applicants with Selected Health Conditions             17

GAO-02-339 Access to Health Insurance for Applicants with Mental Disorders

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