How $0 Cost Share Can Protect Mental Health Care Continuity

Blog highlights

• Trusted Care Network helps members continue Spring Health care at $0 cost share after they use their employer-sponsored sessions.
• The model is designed to protect continuity of care, so members can keep seeing the provider who already knows their history and care plan.
• For employers, TCN helps extend the value of sponsored sessions by reducing the chance that care ends at a cost cliff.
• $0 cost share is especially relevant for members with more complex or ongoing needs, who may need care beyond the standard session allotment.

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Healthcare costs are rising faster than almost any other line item employers manage. Projections for 2026 call for increases of as much as 10%, pushing per-employee costs to above $18,500. These cost increases are driven largely by cancer, GLP-1s, and mental health utilization. 

In response, over half of large employers say they're likely to shift more cost onto employees, pushing more people into high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) when they might not be the right fit for them. Research shows higher out-of-pocket costs lead people to defer care, often until it becomes a crisis.

That pressure lands hardest on those managing chronic conditions and mental health needs. Mental health care is often one of the first things people delay when cost becomes a barrier. A copay, deductible, or unexpected bill can be enough to interrupt care, even when these high-acuity members still need support.

That is the problem Trusted Care Network was built to solve.

What Trusted Care Network changes

Trusted Care Network is a plan design option for Spring Health self-funded customers. It allows members to continue their care with Spring Health at $0 after they use up their sessions paid for by their employer.  This helps keep higher-acuity members in care when they're most likely to drop out, without a material change to overall plan cost.

This matters because mental and physical health are rarely separate problems. Nearly 70% of people with behavioral health disorders have a co-occurring medical condition, and members managing both cost the system two to three times more than those managing a chronic condition alone. Treating mental health as the optional, sequential priority works against the outcomes employers are trying to drive.

Why this matters for employers

Trusted Care Network helps employers ensure efficient care delivery in three ways:

• It supports continuity. Members can keep seeing the provider who already knows their history and care plan.
• It removes a practical barrier. Members do not have to meet a deductible or pay a copay to continue care after sponsored sessions end.
• It supports whole-person treatment. Members with a chronic condition don't hit a separate cost barrier to keep up with the mental health care that supports it.

TCN's $0 cost share only applies after sponsored sessions run out, meaning it specifically reaches members who needed more care than the standard allotment covered. 

Will $0 cost share drive unnecessary utilization?

The additional utilization beyond sponsored sessions isn't new demand. It's care for a need that may otherwise go unmet. When a member uses up their sponsored sessions, it’s typically a sign of higher-acuity needs. TCN helps to keep these members in care, which helps to mitigate higher-cost claims and urgent needs later on. 

The data backs this up. Behavioral health claims typically make up just 10–15% of total plan spend, so removing cost share here moves overall actuarial value only nominally, which is exactly why it's an area few employers have looked to for innovation. 

But nominal actuarial cost doesn't mean nominal impact. Among Spring Health customers who've already adopted a $0 or low-cost behavioral health design, the share of members exceeding sponsored sessions runs 10–20 points higher than Spring Health's broader book of business, but the average number of sessions among those members stays consistent with typical norms. In other words, more members are using their full allotment, not a small group using dramatically more. That's continuity, not runaway utilization.

A modest increase in behavioral health visits is a much smaller line item than an emergency room visit, a hospitalization, or a chronic condition that spirals unmanaged. With the right solution, increased utilization reduces healthcare costs. 

Why Spring Health is built for this model

Trusted Care Network works because it sits on top of Spring Health’s care model.

Spring Health:

• Matches members to the right level of care.
• Builds a care plan around their needs.
• Supports continuity across the care journey. 

When sponsored sessions end, the member is not starting over in a generic network. They are continuing with the same provider and care plan.

That continuity is clinically meaningful. The value of therapy often builds through the relationship between member and provider. Starting over can mean repeating intake, rebuilding trust, and losing momentum.

Trusted Care Network helps preserve the progress members have already made.

The bottom line

The tradeoff for benefits leaders is not simply “more utilization” or “less utilization.”

The better question is where utilization happens, and whether the plan is helping members stay in effective care before their needs become harder and more expensive to address.

Trusted Care Network gives employers a way to remove cost barriers after sponsored sessions, preserve continuity with trusted providers, and support members who may need more than the standard session allotment.

If you are a Spring Health customer considering $0 cost share for Spring Health care, reach out to your Spring Health team to discuss what Trusted Care Network could look like for your plan.

If you don’t have Spring Health and would like to learn more about how we can deliver better care and reduce healthcare costs for you, let’s talk.