Georgia Medicaid insurer denied psychotherapy for thousands

A newspaper finds that the insurance company that manages medical care for many Georgia children has denied or partially denied more than 6,500 requests for psychotherapy between 2019 and mid-2022.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that many of the requests denied by Amerigroup, a unit of insurance insurance giant Elevance Health, were for children in state-run foster care.

Child advocates tell the newspaper that the Department of Community Health, which is supposed to oversee the contract, isn’t holding Amerigroup accountable.