JoCo mental health experts say they can’t meet demand till private insurance pays more

Johnson County mental health officials — facing what they say is the highest suicide rate in any county in Kansas — told U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids on Wednesday they need private insurers to pay more for treatment, especially outpatient care.

Erin Dugan, the president and CEO of the KidsTLC treatment center in Olathe, told Davids that Medicaid pays more for those services than the private sector — something that’s almost unheard of in the physical health realm.

“You cannot even break even in this industry (on private insurance rates), and as a nonprofit that’s all we want to do. We don’t want to make money,” Dugan said. “But the reimbursement rates for preventative, early, low-intensity level mental and behavioral health is awful.”

Medicaid is often the lowest payer in physical health care, with private insurance offering much higher reimbursements to hospitals and other providers.

But in mental health that’s flipped, Dugan said.