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Meiram Bendat, Founder and President of Psych-Appeal
Meiram Bendat
Founder & President

An attorney with a background in mental health, Meiram Bendat offers clients a comprehensive set of skills and knowledge unique in the field of health law. After representing children and families in the Los Angeles child welfare system and treating patients, he founded Psych-Appeal — the country’s first private mental health insurance law firm — in 2011. Since then, Dr. Bendat has helped patients and providers successfully challenge denials of mental health treatment through administrative appeals and impact litigation.

Faculty

  • Stanford University School of Medicine
  • New Center for Psychoanalysis

Education

  • New Center for Psychoanalysis, Ph.D. 2015
  • Antioch University Los Angeles, M.A. 2006
  • USC Law School, J.D. 1998
  • Columbia University, B.A. 1995

Admitted

  • State Bar of California
  • United States Supreme Court
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Second & Ninth Circuits
  • U.S. District Court, Central & Northern Districts of California

Meiram Bendat is an attorney, as well as a psychotherapist, and founder of Psych-Appeal. With a background in law, clinical psychology, marriage and family therapy, and psychoanalysis, he serves as a consultant to national mental health advocacy organizations and frequently presents on access to treatment and mental health parity. He authored California’s pioneering mental health parity law, SB 855, which has served as model legislation throughout the country.

Meiram is Adjunct Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine and a distinguished Ittleson Consultant to the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry. He has testified in Congress and state legislatures and lectured at universities around the country. He has been interviewed in the press and has published widely. He is currently researching regulatory capture by healthcare insurers.

Notable Representations

Class actions and cases that reshaped coverage.

Class actions challenging insurers’ “medical necessity” criteria

Residential Treatment
Wit v. United Behavioral Health · Jones v. United Behavioral Health · Collins v. Anthem, Inc. · Des Roches v. California Physicians’ Service d/b/a Blue Shield of California · Seger v. Health Care Service Corporation
Intensive Outpatient Treatment
Alexander v. United Behavioral Health · Des Roches v. California Physicians’ Service d/b/a Blue Shield of California

Class actions challenging categorical coverage exclusions

Mental Health Residential Treatment
Craft v. Health Care Service Corporation
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Meidl v. Aetna · Weil v. Cigna
Applied Behavioral Analysis
Doe v. United Behavioral Health (converted to individual action)

Class actions challenging reimbursement policies

Psychologist & Master’s-Level Clinician Fees
Smith v. UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company · Doe v. Oxford Health Insurance
Facility-Based Fees
Doe v. Intermountain Healthcare

Cases challenging claims administrators as proper defendants

Doe v. United Behavioral Health · New York State Psychiatric Association, Inc. v. UnitedHealth Group, Inc.

Mandamus petitions against governmental entities

Evolve Growth Initiatives LLC v. California Department of Managed Health Care
Public Speaking & Education

Testimony, lectures, and engagements.

National Union of Healthcare Workers2024–25
ERISA Advisory Council, U.S. Dept. of Labor2024
California Senate Select Committee on Mental Health and Addiction2023
National Association for Behavioral Healthcare2015–25
The Kennedy Forum2015–23
Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry2013–25
The Austen Riggs Center2016–23
United States Congress2021
Illinois Senate & House Mental Health Committees2021
United States Department of Labor2020
California Assembly2020
California Senate2020
American Medical Association2020
American Psychiatric Association2017–19
National Council for Behavioral Health2014, ’16, ’17
Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis2017
Healthcare Association of New York State2016
Butler Hospital (Brown University)2016
Yale Medical School2015
International Society for Neurofeedback and Research2013
Access Coalition2013