Losing health insurance due to reduction in work hours

I need an adverage of thirty hours of work to get the full-time health insurance. I will lose the full-time health insurance on June third. My employer has part-time inusrance but it has a 365 day pre-existing condition clause and doesn't seem to cover anykind of mental health issue! I am concerned that I may have to self-pay to talk to my T and Pdoc. My Lexapro costs around ninety something a month. I can get a discount through the part-time benefits but it sounds small. I have already been taking money out of savings to pay for the rent. Since I have saved up money, I don't qualify for most of your poor programs. GRRRR. COBRA would cost two hundred something (COBRA is US law that makes it possible for a person to extend health coverage if he/she pays the employer contribution). I glanced at an individual plan or two. Since they were directed at college students (going to local technical school to become addiction counselor), they don't cover much of anything either.
Options: COBRA coverage Part-time coverage No insurance

Individual plan

The options suck. My T had almost no advice except that I could consider switching to a generic AD. I am not sure that I want to change something that works for me. She was surprised that COBRA was as cheap as it was. I was too when I first got the letter. The last time that I lost health insurance, I laughed at how high COBRA was and went without for three months or maybe even less.

I know the situation...Onl i lost my job....I may have a sugestion if u lve in Mnnesota......if you do let me know.....
Dar

I'm sorry Hopefull.

Just some ideas - 1. There are a couple of medical schools around here that have clinics with psychologist/psychiatrists who are in their last year. They only charge based on what you can pay. Maybe check around and see if there is anything like that. I know that it stinks to start over with a new doctor.

2. Look for a new job? Don't know your situation or geography.

Good luck and a big hug.

Double check the pre-existing thing too....because you are currently on the policy I am not sure they can put a pre-existing clause on.

just a thought.

Unfortunately I have been through a couple of times -- to get around pre-existing condition clauses, you have to have had insurance continuously for 18 months. In Wisconsin (where I am, not sure where you are) you can have up to a 63-day break in the continuity without the pre-existing condition clause kicking in.

Good luck -- I know how hard it is.

Candy

Two hundred sounds like a bargain. I am paying $400 a month for my COBRA. The last time it ran out, I wound up paying $400 a month to be self-insured for major medical only, that covered almost nothing. I'm sorry that you are in this situation. Health care in the US is miserable.

PS -- I think there are ways to hide your savings in off-shore accounts that you can subscribe to online. I'm a bit leery of them myself, afraid someone will abscond with my hard-earned savings. As well, there will be a paper trail up to the point where the money vanished. You would have to siphon it off slowly, perhaps finding some way to withdraw cash, then using untraceable money orders or something. Or, you might be able to siphon off money as help for a relative you trust.

HIPA seems to say that the pre-existing clause isn't an issue because I have had continuous insurance for a year and then I had the previous policy for even longer before that.
My prescription issue told my pharmacist that I was terminated in April. I think I had a prescription filled since then. I tried to call them because I wanted to get one last re-fill before losing their coverage. The prescription insurance referred me to my employer. I tried to explain that my full-time status is changing to part-time status on June 1st. So, I tried to call the work number for human resources and got a computer. I was on hold for atleast 20 minutes and gave up because it was a little past 5PM which I think is when they close.
As for cheap care, I know about those because I used to volunteer at a place for free medical care but I doubt that they do mental health. I am hoping that I get a peep squeck out of the ten or so places that I have applied for a job. I am getting a bit slow on looking for work because my employer has upped my hours to 23 hours a week (I need an adverage of 30 for full-time health insurance). I don't know how long the extra hours will last because a co-worker is on a "leave of absence."