Research has also found that families with private health insurance are more likely to be underinsured and report inadequate coverage of needed services, especially families of children with special health care needs.(26) Given that private health insurance remains the dominant payer for childrens’ mental health and hospital services,(27) estimating service use and costs of treatment for privately insured youth with bipolar disorder will help to quantify the impact of this disorder on children, their families, and the health care system. The objectives are to identify utilization patterns and estimate health plan payments for inpatient, outpatient and pharmacy services among privately insured children with bipolar disorder diagnoses.
