Expanded coverage for young adults under the Affordable Care Act substantially raised inpatient hospital visits related to mental health, finds a new study by researchers at Indiana and Purdue universities. That looks like good news: Better access to care for a population with higher-than-average levels of mental illness that too often endangers them and people nearby. But it might not be the best result, said Kosali Simon, an economist at Indiana University and one of the authors. Greater hospital use by the newly insured might be caused by inadequate outpatient resources to treat mental-health patients earlier and less expensively, she said.
