This post is really eye-opening to me. As many problems as there are with the VA system and all of its absurdities, it does shield me from this aspect. I’ve never had to make any decisions about my care based on cost. Sure I have to drive an hour one-way to get to the appt which is very inconvenient, and the wait times are often holy ridiculous, but I never have to balance my mental health against my budget. I didn’t even realize a pdoc appt cost this much. Thank you for this thread. Something is so very wrong with our health care system. There has to be a way to pay doctors what they deserve without gutting patients’ budgets.