Report Details Behavioral-health Needs, Access in Massachusetts During Pandemic

BOSTON — The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation recently released a report on the need for behavioral healthcare and experiences accessing it in the Commonwealth during the first year of the pandemic.

The survey gathered information on the experiences of Massachusetts adults from January 2020 through March 2021. Given the timing of the survey and its 12-month look-back period, the survey collected information over roughly the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey also included a series of questions focused explicitly on the link between the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for behavioral healthcare.

More than one in three (35%) Massachusetts adults age 19 and over reported needing behavioral healthcare for themselves or a close relative over that period. Notably, more than a quarter (27%) of Massachusetts adults reported needing behavioral healthcare for themselves over that period, with the level of need disproportionately high among younger adults ages 19 to 39, adults who identify as a race or ethnicity other than non-Hispanic white, and adults with lower family incomes.

Among the Massachusetts adults who reported needing behavioral healthcare over the previous 12 months, 26% did not receive any behavioral healthcare, and fewer than half (43%) of those who did receive some behavioral healthcare services were always able to obtain an appointment when they needed behavioral healthcare.

The survey also reinforced that the trauma and stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on behavioral healthcare needs in Massachusetts, as 64% of the adults who reported a need for behavioral healthcare over the first year of the pandemic reported that their need was due to or exacerbated by the pandemic.

Click here to read the full report.