Q. Hi, I’m a 20 year old female struggling with depression, OCD and an eating disorder. My insurance will only cover 20 visits for mental health and I have exhausted those visits with my psychologist. I am currently in an Intensive Outpatient program that my insurance has finally agreed to cover to keep me out of the hospital. The IOP is very helpful but I feel that a major bulk of my therapy comes from my individual therapist. I tried explaining this to a case manager from my insurance but I guess she couldn’t seem to understand. This is my oxygen. She just told me that the insurance would only cover a psychiatrist who would administer medication, so why not dope myself up. I feel helpless and invalidated. It seems as if mental illness takes a back burner in healthcare. What can I do in this situation? What can my psychologist do?
A. I understand your situation. Unfortunately, I hear about this on a daily basis. The mental health system in America is far from what is should be. It’s ironic that people believe we have the best medical system in the world. They believe this until they have to use the system and this is never more true than in the mental health system. To believe that you have medical coverage for mental illness and then to find out that your insurance will only cover twenty visits is a horrible realization. Many professionals in the mental health system believe that is it is no longer the mental health professionals who are making the decisions in many cases, but it is the insurance group that makes these decisions. Many people would say that people are not being treated adequately and are being released from hospital stays prematurely resulting in many more reoccurrences than if they would have been allowed to stay the correct amount of time. I don’t know if it is possible to get a part time job to cover the additional expenses of therapy, but it would certainly be worth it. You could also try your community mental health center. I wish I had more encouraging advice for you but sadly, I do not.
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