Since health insurance first began covering mental health services in the mid-20th century, there have been debates about how best to balance comprehensiveness and affordability of mental health care benefits. In the United States, concerns about potential overuse initially led insurers to impose higher restrictions for mental health care than for other types of health care benefits. Over time, advocacy coupled with research demonstrating that these restrictions could be lifted without significant cost increases helped pave the way for broader mental health care coverage.¹ During the past decade, federal legislation has placed mental health within the mainstream of health insurance, establishing it as an essential health benefit and ensuring that it covers a range of services comparable to those for other types of medical and surgical care.²

自从20世纪中叶健康保险首次开始涵盖精神卫生服务以来，一直存在关于如何最好地平衡精神卫生保健福利的全面性和可负担性的争论。在美国，对潜在过度使用的担忧最初导致保险公司对精神卫生保健施加的限制高于对其他类型的卫生保健福利的限制。随着时间的流逝，倡导与研究表明可以取消这些限制而无需大量增加费用的研究，为更广泛的精神卫生保健覆盖面铺平了道路。^1个在过去的十年中，联邦立法将精神健康置于健康保险的主流之中，将其确立为一项基本的健康福利，并确保其涵盖的服务范围可与其他类型的医疗和外科手术相媲美。^2个