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Old Apr 01, 2011, 05:44 AM
kathleen slattery kathleen slattery is offline
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Member Since: Mar 2011
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Posts: 178
Reader, I found your situation to be incredible; that Blue Cross dropped your mental benefit eff. 1/1/11! But you are correct, as I googled their website. The catch 22 here has to do with Federal Mental Health Parity Regulations; which mandate a carrier to provide the same co-pays and levels of service as would be paid to a regular doctor. However, insurance companies are not obligated to offer mental health, and due to the fact that mental health is a financial burden, many companies are dropping the insurance.
Having worked in the health care industry for 20 years (for a union); I can tell you that we dropped Blue Cross many moons ago, due to their limited benefits and exorbitant premiums. Why not shop around; try some new carriers like Aetna Advantage, US Healthcare, or a group based in CA called United Behavioral Health (425 Market St, 27th Fl, San Francisco CA 94105)?
If you google: "Best Mental Health Care Insurance companies to consider", a list comes up. I suspect that this might require you to pay another premium on top of your regular insurance, but perhaps it might not be outrageous. Good luck!
Thanks for this!
reader1587