Medicare, Managed Care, and Behavioral Health Care

This issue brief examines Medicare and managed care for Medicare beneficiaries with behavioral health needs. Although only a relatively small proportion of Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in managed care arrangements at the present time, proposals to expand the use of Medicare managed care can be expected to receive a good deal of attention in the coming years as part of a larger debate over Medicare\u27s long term future. Thus, this issue brief examines the Medicare+Choice (M+C) program from the perspective of Medicare beneficiaries with mental illness and addiction disorders