WillowsEdge

If you live in Michigan, and especially if you have Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan or Blue Care Network health insurance coverage, there is something happening right now that you deserve to know about.

On June 1, 2026, BCBS MI published a significant change to their incident-to billing policy, with changes taking effect September 1, 2026 and March 1, 2027. In plain language: this policy will eliminate reimbursement for limited licensed mental health clinicians working in community-based private practices. These are master's level therapists who have completed graduate education, passed national licensing exams, and are actively working toward full licensure under state-mandated supervision. They are not unqualified. They are in a defined, required stage of Michigan's licensure process.

This matters to you as a consumer because community-based mental health practices serve the people who have the hardest time accessing care, including people from LGBTQIA+ communities, people of color, people with trauma histories, and people in underserved areas of Michigan. These practices rely on limited licensed clinicians to maintain capacity and keep wait times down. When those clinicians can no longer be reimbursed, practices lose the ability to employ and train them, capacity shrinks, and the people who already face the most barriers to care lose access.

When people can't access mental health care, the cost doesn't disappear, it shifts. It lands in our emergency rooms, our schools, our families, and our communities. None of us are untouched by what happens when people have nowhere to go.

Michigan already has 233 designated Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas. This policy will deepen that shortage, not reduce it.

If this concerns you, here is what you can do:

I have posted three comment templates in the comments below that you are welcome to copy, edit, and use directly on BCBS MI's Facebook posts. There are two options for members and one for non-members, so take whichever fits your situation.

1. Comment directly on BCBS MI's Facebook posts and let them hear from the people their policies affect.

2. Contact BCBS MI directly through their member services line and put your concerns on record.

3. Contact your state legislators, both your state House representative and state Senator, and ask them to look into the workforce and access implications of this change.

4. Reach out to the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS), which regulates insurance companies in our state.
Phone: 877-999-6442 (toll-free, Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm)
Email: [email protected]
Online complaint portal: michigan.gov/difs
Mail: PO Box 30220, Lansing, MI 48909

5. If your insurance is through your employer, raise it there too. Employers sponsor these plans and have leverage that individual members don't.

6. Watch for petitions and formal responses from the Michigan Mental Health Counselors Association and NASW Michigan, both of which are actively responding to this policy change, and add your name when those come.

I'm sharing this because the people most affected by policy decisions like this one are often the last to hear about them. This policy change will harm us all, both directly and indirectly. You have more power in this than the insurance industry wants you to feel like you do. Use it.

Department of Insurance and Financial Services DIFS, Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services

Please read this news article featuring WillowsEdge's David Sniderman. More important information to come.

‘Devastating’: Michigan mental health care workers concerned BCBSM billing change could cut access to counselors Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is making a billing change and mental health care workers in the area say it could leave patients without their counselors. Additionally, mental health care workers say it could upend private practices’ way of making money.

Now that the weather is nice, please let us know if you're interested in participating in this workshop!

WE Wellness Wednesday
https://www.instagram.com/p/DJKW2ZWzv23/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

May is Mental Health Awareness Month 1 in 5. That’s how many people will face a mental health challenge in any given year. That person might be sitting next to you. That person might be in your home. That person might be someone you love. That person might be you. Even if it’s not your battle personally, chances are—it’s someone you care about deeply. The semicolon ( ; ) is a small mark with a big meaning. It tells the reader: the story isn’t over yet. It’s used when a sentence could have ended, but didn’t. And that’s what this month—and this symbol—reminds us of. Depression is part of my story. But it’s not the ending. It forces me to pause, reflect, rest—but it does not define me. It does not end me. I am stronger than the lies it tells me. I am more than what my mind sometimes whispers. My story continues. So does yours. There is no shame in struggling. There is power in speaking up. Let the semicolon remind us—and others—that we are not alone. Support your 1 in 5. See them. Hear them. Love them. Remind them they are still whole, even when they feel broken. I am 1 in 5.