988 Sustainability Depends on Healthcare Insurers Paying Their Fair Share

A push for behavioral health parity, where insurance companies provide equal treatment for mental health and substance use services as physical ones, isn’t new. However, inequality between the two has increasingly garnered attention from federal and state leaders. Awareness that Arlene Stephenson, senior advisor at the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), says likely grew because of rising behavioral health needs during the pandemic and implementing 988—the three-digit number for mental health, suicide, and substance use crises—and corresponding 988 crisis systems.