Yes. Medicare covers many mental health services, including treatment for depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders.

Outpatient Mental Health Coverage

Part B covers services such as:

  • Individual, group, and certain family psychotherapy
  • Psychiatric evaluation
  • Medication management
  • Diagnostic testing
  • Annual depression screening
  • Mental health care coordinated with your other medical care
  • Substance use disorder treatment
  • Partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs when requirements are met

Covered professionals can include psychiatrists, psychologists, clinical social workers, nurse practitioners, marriage and family therapists, and mental health counselors who meet Medicare requirements.

After the Part B deductible, you generally pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount for treatment visits. For a hospital outpatient visit, you may also owe a copayment to the hospital. You pay nothing for a qualifying annual depression screening when the provider accepts the Medicare-approved amount as full payment. To qualify for that free screening, you must receive it in a primary care setting with staff who can support follow-up care. Other psychiatric assessments may have costs. See the screening coverage requirements.

Partial hospitalization is a structured outpatient psychiatric program that can be an alternative to inpatient treatment. An intensive outpatient program offers coordinated, intensive care without a hospital admission and is generally less intensive than partial hospitalization. The right program depends on the care you need and whether the program meets Medicare’s coverage requirements.

Inpatient and Prescription Coverage

Part A covers qualifying inpatient mental health care in a general or psychiatric hospital. Part B covers clinician services during the stay. Your costs depend on the hospital benefit period. Part A has a 190-day lifetime limit for inpatient care in a psychiatric hospital; this special limit does not apply to psychiatric care in a general hospital. Other hospital benefit limits still apply.

Part D covers many outpatient mental health prescriptions. Each plan has its own list of covered drugs, called a formulary, and rules for getting them.

Telehealth

Medicare covers many behavioral health services by telehealth, including certain care received at home. Ask whether the provider is Medicare-enrolled and whether the visit meets current telehealth rules.

See Medicare's mental health coverage overview for covered settings and programs.

When scheduling non-emergency care, ask: “Does this clinician take my coverage, and will I also receive a hospital outpatient facility bill?” Use your plan’s behavioral health contact if you need help finding an available clinician.

Get Immediate Help

If you or someone else may be in immediate danger, call 911. In the United States, call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Medicare policy sources last checked: October 8, 2026.