Patrick Kennedy Responds to ’60 Minutes’ Story Revealing Mental Health Coverage Denials

Mental health advocate and former Congressman Patrick Kennedy appeared on “CBS This Morning” today to discuss how insurer denials of mental health treatment adversely affect the lives of those dealing with mental illness.

“It’s an all too familiar tragedy that mental health is not treated like the rest of physical health,” said Kennedy. “The notion that there was 95 percent to 100 percent denial rate for mental illness, where as you would never expect that for cancer, diabetes or cardiovascular disease.”

Kennedy called upon insurance companies to outline how they decide whether a claim for mental health treatment is medically necessary.

“What’s most frustrating is the lack of transparency in how [insurance companies] make these decisions,” he said.

The “60 Minutes” investigation aired last night on CBS.