Overview
- Pediatric behavioral health spending totaled $41.8 billion in 2022, with families paying $2.9 billion out-of-pocket.
- Family out-of-pocket costs for children’s behavioral care rose 6.4% per year on average, compared with 2.7% for other medical care.
- Households with a child receiving behavioral health services were 60% more likely to face high financial burden and 40% more likely to face extreme burden, defined as spending over 10% of income.
- Care patterns shifted toward home health and outpatient services, with home health spending up 25% annually, in-person outpatient up 11% annually, and telehealth visits surging 99% per year from 2020 to 2022.
- Study authors urge stronger insurance network adequacy, enforcement of parity laws, and improved telehealth reimbursement and cross-state access to reduce costs and expand care.