Behavioral Health Conditions Outrank Diabetes, Cancers Among Commercially Insured

Chronic behavioral health conditions account for close to one-third of the most prevalent health matters among commercially insured patients.

Anxiety disorders, mental illness and depressive disorders were the three most frequently observed across insurance claims in 2024 — surpassing obesity, diabetes, heart disease and a swath of other chronic diagnoses — according to a new report from FAIR Health.

These three mental health conditions were among the top ten out of 44 total that were analyzed in the report, with anxiety disorders occurring in 14.6% of patient claims, mental illness accounting for 10.5% and depressive disorders at 8.8%. According to FAIR Health, 57.5% of commercially insured patients have at least one of the 44 chronic conditions, with 11.5% of patients having two co-occurring chronic diagnoses.  

FAIR Health is an independent data-focused organization that manages the nation’s largest database of commercial health insurance claims. The company processes around 4 billion claim records per year.

Anxiety disorders were even more prevalent than obesity, which made up 13.2% of commercial insurance claims. Mental illness claims surpassed arthritis, which accounted for 9.3%. Depressive disorders exceeded the prevalence of diabetes, hypothyroidism, asthma and anemia, among other conditions.

ADHD was the twelfth most prevalent chronic condition, making up just under 5% of insurance claims.

Across chronic substance use conditions, tobacco use disorder was more common than other drug disorders, occurring in 4.2% of patient claims, while other drug use disorders only made up 1.8%, and alcohol use disorder accounted for just 1.1% of commercial claims.

Autism was only prevalent in 0.7% of commercial insurance claims in 2024, according to the data.

Combined, the 13 chronic behavioral health conditions in FAIR Health’s data account for 51% of the chronic conditions observed across its claims. While many patients also had two or more co-occurring chronic diagnoses, the number of chronic conditions per patient drives health care spending up significantly, FAIR’s report shows.

In 2024, the average maximum amount a commercial insurance plan would pay annually for a patient without a chronic condition was $1,590, while the average amount for the 57.5% of patients with at least one chronic condition was nearly double at $3,039. The study included both in-network and out-of-network allowed amounts in its averages.

For patients with two chronic conditions, the allowed payment amount starts at $4,116 and increases sharply with each additional chronic condition. A patient with 10 chronic conditions costs insurance companies 13.7 times more than a patient without.

The number of chronic conditions a patient has also correlates closely with poverty thresholds. A higher prevalence of chronic diagnoses and lower household income tends to be saturated in the southeastern part of the country, more so than in other regions.