Max Blau
Atlanta-based investigative reporter with ProPublica's South team, covering health care, public health, and the environment. Get in touch at max.blau@propublica.org.
- A new report from @dol.gov has found widespread noncompliance and violations of federal law in how health plans and insurers cover mental health care, echoing the findings of a recent @propublica.org investigation. Here's the details on what DOL found: www.propublica.org/article/depa...
- Have you ever called a mental health provider listed in your insurer's directory, but couldn't make an appointment because the information was wrong? You're not alone. Regulators know that insurance directories are full of errors. Here's what I found. 🧵 www.propublica.org/article/ghos...
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View full threadMy colleagues and I are continuing to report on the ways insurers meddle with mental health care. We’ve looked at why providers have left insurance networks and the patchwork of mental health protections across the country. www.propublica.org/series/ameri...
- We’re still looking to hear from mental health providers, health insurance insiders and patients. Do you have a tip for us? Please fill out this form. www.propublica.org/getinvolved/...
- The harms from ghost networks are real. I recently reported on how Ravi Coutinho, a 36-year-old entrepreneur from Arizona, died after running into problems with his plan’s ghost network. Here’s that story: www.propublica.org/article/ambe...
- If you find yourself caught in a ghost network — and can’t find a mental health provider that accepts your insurance — here are the key steps that experts suggest for you to consider. www.propublica.org/article/how-...
- Insurers acknowledge that errors happen. The industry’s top trade group has said that insurers contact providers to verify that their listings are accurate.
- The group has stated that errors could be corrected faster if the providers did a better job updating their listings. But providers have told us that’s bogus: They’re not always removed from the directories when they formally drop out of a network.
- Even when penalties for directory errors do happen, they are small and sporadic. In an average year, there are fewer than one-dozen fines issued by regulators. All those fines represent a fraction of 1% of the billions of dollars in profits made by the largest insurers.
- Dr. Robert Trestman, a leading American Psychiatric Association expert on ghost networks, said state agencies have failed to enforce regulations. “They’re not doing their job. If they were, we would not have an ongoing problem.”
- In each of those states, insurance regulators can’t point to a single penalty for ghost networks.
- Spokespeople for the state agencies told ProPublica that their “many actions” resulted in “significant accountability.” But ProPublica found that the actual actions taken so far do not match the regulators’ rhetoric.
- Arizona regulators also called hundreds of mental health providers. They couldn’t schedule visits with nearly two out of every five providers they called.
- Massachusetts’ attorney general investigated alleged efforts by insurers to restrict their customers’ mental health benefits. The insurers agreed to audit their provider listings but were largely allowed to police themselves.
- States have passed laws intended to protect customers from “ghost networks,” where health plans list providers who supposedly accept that insurance but who are not actually available to patients. But those efforts are only as good as their enforcers.
- Staffers with the New York attorney general’s office called 396 mental health providers to schedule an appointment. Eighty-six percent were “unreachable, not in-network, or not accepting new patients.”
- It's good to see a lot of familiar faces on Blue Sky. For those of you following me for the first time, I'm an investigative reporter with @propublica.org. I cover health and environmental issues across the South. Here's more about me and how to get in touch: www.propublica.org/people/max-b...
