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Originally Posted by kim1975
Mental healthcare officials charge so much that if you do have insurance, especially like Medicare and the like, then the state pays an extremely big amount per year on just one person. Think of how much one mental health clinic can get in one year from the state, like Medicare and the like, for people who need help.
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I'm having a foggy kind of day, so correct me if I misinterpreted what you wrote here. Those who do take insurance, do not get paid what they ask for. Medicare providers get paid a paltry amount for the services they provide, even less than private insurances pay. And the mental health clinics do not get a lot of money, most of them are underfunded by the state. States provide very little money for mental health services, so these clinics are not making a fortune.
I live in a state which is at the bottom of the list for mental health funding. They're spending more money on building new prisons than providing services for the mentally ill. In fact, a lot of people in prisons are mentally ill, but have no state hospital or state run services to go to. Here there's a waiting list for clinics.
I agree something needs to change. More and more doctors are not taking insurance anymore. They spend a lot of money to go into medical school and they have a lot of loans. In addition, insurances are being very picky about reimbursements for services and are covering less. They don't get the $200 they are asking for. They're lucky if they get half that.
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Shouldn't mental healthcare be more affordable for the Medicare, Medicaid, and Insurance companies to pay for? They are the ones being ripped off. And those who can't afford insurance, and do not qualify for help from somewhere else to pay for the mental healthcare they need, are absolutely in the dark. The people who say they really want to help you should not charge an arm and a leg to get you the help that you need.
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That's very true and something that needs to be changed. That's why you'll find a lot of people with mental illnesses in prisons instead. As a whole, this country's mental health services are in the dark ages.