On March 1, 2022, President Biden announced his strategy to address the national mental health crisis during his first State of the Union. This strategy will strengthen system capacity, connect more Americans to care, and create a continuum of support to transform our health and social services infrastructure to address mental health holistically and equitably.

As part of this strategy, President Biden included a goal to expand access to tele- and virtual mental health care options. More specifically:

  •  The Administration will work with Congress to ensure coverage of tele-behavioral health across health plans, and support appropriate delivery of telemedicine across state lines, to maintain continuity of access;
  • The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will create a learning collaborative with state insurance departments to identify and address state-based barriers, like telehealth limitations, to behavioral health access; and
  • The United States Office of Personnel Management will facilitate widespread, confidential, and easy access to telehealth services, in part by strongly encouraging Federal Employees Health Benefits Program carriers to sufficiently reimburse providers for telehealth services, and to eliminate or reduce co-payments for consumers seeking tele-mental service.

To read the full press release on this initiative, click here.