Unlocking Transformation and Healing: Cost Policy Options for Accessible Youth and Young Adult Mental Health Care

The Center for Law and Social Policy’s (CLASP) youth and young adult mental health framework calls for policies that increase access to healing, transformative mental health supports for this population.6 Through our Policy Advancing Transformation and Healing (PATH) initiative, CLASP has collaborated with partners over 2019 and 2020 to test this framework, advancing systems and policy changes supporting well-being for transition-age youth (ages 16-17) and young adults (ages 18-25). We identified a set of policy options with broad applicability and strong potential to increase access to transformation and healing for economically marginalized young people.

This brief, by Nia West-Bey and Kayla Tawa, details several policy options to increase the affordability of care by first examining how states can improve health insurance coverage rates for youth and young adults, and then identifying strategies for better reimbursement practices.