Don't Forget About Adolescence: How the Braidwood Litigation Can Shape Access to Mental Health Services and...

Currently, the Affordable Care Act helps to provide inexpensive preventive care services to adolescents (10-19 years old) by preventing insurance companies from implementing cost-sharing measures. Some of these services can fall under the realm of mental health preventive care such as anxiety and depression testing. The lack of cost to a patient and their family encourages doctors to offer these services to their young patients. Furthermore, this Affordable Care Act provision - fosters doctor-patient communication because it normalizes mental health services as part of well-being. However, Braidwood Management Inc. v. Becerra threatens to have far reaching implications for preventive care policy and to disrupt health communication efforts to promote positive mental health. This Article uses structuration theory and a conceptual framework of adolescent development to examine the potential ramifications of cost-sharing on adolescent health. The implications of this change in cost-sharing include constraining doctors' communication behavior in primary care settings and stunting healthy adolescent development. Ultimately, if the Braidwood decision is upheld, it may pose a challenge to a doctor's ability to communicate with their young patient about mental health.