Mental health remains in the forefront 5 years after pandemic

Five years after COVID-19 disrupted the world, the effects are still being felt. One of the biggest effects to impact the world of health insurance and benefits is greater awareness around mental health.

That was the word from Tom Morey, Aflac U.S. chief actuary, who told InsuranceNewsNet how the pandemic’s aftershocks are still hitting consumers, health care providers and benefits providers.

“Obviously, the pandemic was isolating, and you had a lot of people going through difficult emotional and mental health effects of that isolation,” he said. “But early on, you also had family members who were sick or even dying and you were limited in your contact with them or your access to them. There were a lot of things in the early days of the pandemic that were traumatizing.”

One positive thing that came from the pandemic-induced mental health crisis is that the stigma around mental health has decreased.

“It’s probably the best it has been in my lifetime in terms of people realizing it’s OK to say you are struggling with your mental health,” he said.

Financial barriers to mental health cited

The stigma around getting help for mental health issues is only part of the reason why consumers are reluctant to seek help, Morey said. “There can be financial barriers to accessing help as well,” he said.

Aflac has added mental health benefits to its accident insurance, enabling a policyholder to receive up to 30 visits with a mental health provider following an accident.

“Mental health is one of the big legacies coming out in the pandemic, and it’s a sad legacy, but better awareness gives people a better chance for you more optimized outcomes,” Morey said.

Another impact of the pandemic, Morey said, is consumers’ underutilization of preventive health services.

“The pandemic made people more aware of health issues,” he said. “But it was puzzling to us that fewer people were getting preventive care.”

Morey attributed that lack of preventive care to two factors: People moving away from urban centers and farther away from their health care providers, and a reluctance to leave home to obtain care.

“About half people who missed preventive visits had some kind of logistical problem – they couldn’t get childcare or they couldn’t miss work,” he said.

“We're interested in trying to get people to access care, so this gives us an idea of how as society changes and as people face new challenges, how we can build that into the coverage we provide.”

Consumers return to preventive mental health care

Consumers are beginning to return to their health care providers for preventive care, Morey said, but there is a gap in who is obtaining that care. “Younger people really fell off during the pandemic in terms of getting preventive care and they haven’t come back. Older people are much more likely to keep up with their preventive visits and not miss them.”

He attributed some of that age gap to younger adults having more responsibilities to compete for their time.

Morey said Aflac found consumers were more likely to access care offered on an outpatient basis as opposed to care offered in a hospital.

“One of the doctors that we talked to said it is a lot easier for people to have outpatient treatments where they have to be brought back and forth several times, because there's usually somebody working from home who can drive them. And that wasn’t the case before the pandemic.”

Aflac has focused more on outpatient benefits, particularly wellness benefits, since the pandemic, Morey said.

“Our wellness benefits don’t pay for the wellness tests. That’s something that major medical insurance pays for. What we pay for is the inconvenience surrounding getting wellness tests – for example, you might need a babysitter so you can go to the doctor. We want to lower the barriers to getting that wellness care.”

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Susan Rupe is editor in chief, magazine, for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at [email protected].