Am J Psychiatry 1982; 139:866-871
Copyright © 1982 by American Psychiatric Association
Federal Employees' experience as a guide to the cost of insuring psychiatric services in the various states
J Krizay
The two largest plans in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program-
Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Aetna - have reported benefit payments and
the number of people who have used psychiatric services on a state-
by-state basis for two decades. The author translates this experience into
per capita utilization rates in a constant dollar terms and compares the
benefit costs of the two plants over a 4-year period (1976- 1979). Within
each state, utilization rates did not change much over the 4 years, and the
rank ordering among states by rate of utilization was quite similar for
both plants. The author believes that the consistency noted can be useful
in estimating costs of psychiatric coverage at the state level.
