Ghost mental health networks are a thing. If you need a specialist therapist you will probably not even be able to get a single available provider who takes ins

Ghost mental health networks are a thing. If you need a specialist therapist you will probably not even be able to get a single available provider who takes insurance. The best you can do, if you don't have a bunch of cash on hand or an HSA is get on a waiting list for literal years. People on medicaid, those who would proportionally probably need more mental healthcare, have the least amount of access (very very few therapists can financially afford to take medicaid), and the worst care (those that do are almost always new grads trying to finish the requirements of an independent license). It is one of the ways that our society deeply punishes the poor. Many many people especially here will never have experienced this - but some who've say lost a job due to a mental health reason quickly find that as their job goes away so does their ability to access care. Then they have to decide between at minimum $400 a month (more likely $700) for food/rent or for therapy. There is frequently nobody there to help you at the bottom. It can't happen to you until it does.