Behavioral Health in Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program

Chapter 2 of the March 2026 report focuses on behavioral health in Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The Commission has had a long-standing interest in examining behavioral health service use and spending in Medicaid, given the program’s role as a major source of coverage for behavioral health services in the United States. However, analyzing behavioral health spending and utilization data in Medicaid and CHIP at a national level has historically been challenging. Behavioral health services do not have a standardized definition or well-defined set of procedure codes, provider taxonomies, or care settings, making it difficult to identify these services in medical claims. The chapter includes findings from the Commission’s analytic work to measure utilization and spending for Medicaid and Medicaid-expansion State Children’s Health Insurance Program (M-CHIP) enrollees with behavioral health conditions.