# The Effects of Zero Cost-sharing on Mental Health Service Outcomes

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · 2024 · $699,368

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
More than three-fifths of Americans with mental health disorders (MHD) have not received treatment in the
prior year. Societally, under-utilization of mental health care has a substantial impact on disability and
contributes to premature mortality through causes such as suicide. The problem of low mental health care use
persists despite progress in increasing the rate of health insurance coverage. A major barrier to mental health
services is cost, even among the majority of Americans who have either employer-sponsored or individual
market commercial health insurance. As such policy interventions to reduce costs of mental health services
among people with commercial insurance might have substantial effects on mental health services use and
potentially quality. In 2021, New Mexico passed SB 317 “No Behavioral Health Cost Sharing,” which prohibited
cost-sharing for mental health services in the commercial insurance plans that the state regulates. This law
was the first of its kind nationally, and represents a stark natural experiment in reducing cost-related barriers to
mental health services. The proposed study will assess the implementation and effects of the SB 317 No
Behavioral Health Cost Sharing law with four specific aims. 1) Characterize the implementation of SB 317 from
the perspective of clinicians and patients in New Mexico who are directly affected by the law, using qualitative
interviews with key stakeholders. 2) Assess the effect of SB317 on MHD services benefit generosity using
insurance documents that summarize plan benefits. 3) Evaluate the effect of SB317 on use of MHD services
using quasi-experimental methods and comprehensive commercial claims data. 4) Evaluate the effect of
SB317 on the quality of MHD services received. Understanding the way that zero cost-sharing affects mental
health services will provide important new evidence to help guide mental health financing decisions to most-
efficiently improve mental health services use.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10819979
- **Project number:** 1R01MH135530-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
- **Principal Investigator:** Ezra Golberstein
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $699,368
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-04-01 → 2028-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10819979

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10819979, The Effects of Zero Cost-sharing on Mental Health Service Outcomes (1R01MH135530-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10819979. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*