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The human cost of ghost networks

By Rhitu Chatterjee,
Max Blau
Published September 22, 2024 at 7:15 AM EDT
Ravi Coutinho took a picture of himself on May 22, 2023, hoping to mark the beginning of his recovery from alcohol use disorder.
Webber Coutinho family
Ravi Coutinho took a picture of himself on May 22, 2023, hoping to mark the beginning of his recovery from alcohol use disorder.

For people with the most severe forms of mental illness, the problem of not being able to find treatment can be deadly. Ravi Coutinho tried very hard to find treatment for his depression, anxiety and alcohol use disorder.

He met frustration at every turn as he tried to find mental health care providers who took his insurance, which seemed to have an adequate network.

NPR's Rhitu Chatterjee interviewed Coutinho's mother, Barbara Webber, and Chatterjee discusses the tragic case with Weekend Edition's Ayesha Rascoe.

For more on Ravi's story, by ProPublica's Max Blau.

To find out what to do if you find yourself looking for mental health care in a health insurance ghost network, .

Copyright 2025 NPR

Rhitu Chatterjee
Rhitu Chatterjee is a health correspondent with NPR, with a focus on mental health. In addition to writing about the latest developments in psychology and psychiatry, she reports on the prevalence of different mental illnesses and new developments in treatments.
See stories by Rhitu Chatterjee
Max Blau

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de º£½Ç»»ÆÞ, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

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