How do you pay for treatment?

This forum is for the discussion of paying for treatment -- the pitfalls and ways to navigate the multitudes of health care systems.

Enjoy!
DocJohn

I don't. There are many places to get therapy that are non profit organizations. If you don't have the cash, you do not have to pay... or you just pay what you can.

I wish there were more systems like this Hartford, Connecticut one, where you trade volunteer hours for therapy!

http://www.ctvip.org/scripts/index.asp

The only treatment that I have to pay for is my ED T, my dietician, and any hospital visits. All of which are on a sliding fee scale. My pdoc participates in something called the LEVY program, so my visits there are paid for by this grant. My SA T is through an organization that offers free therapy. My DV T generally charges $2 a session, but I have yet to pay that in my almost 3 yrs. I am so thankful that I live in a community that has these resources, I would not be able to afford treatment if they weren't here.

Good article and ideas:

http://helpguide.org/mental/psychoth...counseling.htm

I pay for my psychologist almost entirely out of pocket, at $160 / session. My private, supplemental health insurance through work, will only reimburse me $1,000 a year. I've just told her I have to go to seeing her every other week rather than weekly because I simply can't afford weekly right now.

My addictions Dr. and addictions treatment groups are funded by our public health care. I'm going to see if I can increase my private appointments with my addictions Dr. now that I'm not seeeing my psychologist so oftern.

My psychiatrist is paid for by public health care. And my last stay in a psych hospital (8 weeks) was completely paid for by public health care.

I feel really lucky to have public health care, and definitely feel like I'm getting my money's worth from my tax dollars that fund it.

--splitimage

I pay for my mental health services with insurance through my husband's employer. We pay standard co-pays that are no different than any other specialist service.

In addition, my employer offers Flexible Medical Spending account. It is a paycheck deduction (pre-tax) that goes into an account which covers medical expenses not covered by insurance such as co-pays, dental, etc. For instance, we choose to claim the entire $5000/year in our FMS account. We are given a debit card (a VISA I think) that we use to pay our copays for appointments, prescriptions, dental, vision, etc. The entire $5000 is available to us at the start of the year. Each month, my paycheck has a deduction to pay for the $5000 ($466 a month I think). The only thing to be careful of is that if you don't use the amount you claim, at the end of the year you lose what is left over (we've never had that problem which tells you how high our medical bills are). If your employer offers this option, it is certainly worth looking into. You can claim whatever amount you want up to a $5000 maximum. For us it is the peace of mind that we don't have to put our health on the back burner. The money is always there (unless we run through the debit amount before the year is up).

My situation is much like Farmergirl's, only the insurance is through my employer instead of hubby's. I pay $30 a week copay for my Psych NP that does my therapy as well as prescribing my meds. I am lucky, my meds cost a grand total of $4 per month!

I also use my flex spending account to pay my copays.

I pay out of pocket because my insurance considers my mental illness a pre-existing condition, so they will pay for nothing to with it, not therapy, med visits or prescriptions. Even if they did 'cover' it, psychiatric services have a $1500 deductible that must be met before they pay a penny, then when they do start coverage is only 60%, with me paying the other 40%. I would actually have to pay far, far more for my care than I do now if my insurance did cover it.

We use private insurance....helps greatly Each session is about $45, every other week. Pdoc is $20.

I am very fortunate to have a T who is able to charge as little as $50/session. It's her sliding scale fee. I have no insurance. This $200/mo is still a major hardship as I only make $25,000 a year and am also paying off student loans, but it is worth it since I want to be a psychologist and I need to make sure my mental health struggles don't get in the way of my chosen career.

Depending on the treatment and medication, either out the nose or with an arm and a leg.

lol, Umbral Seraph.

I have to say I'm very fortunate to have excellent insurance coverage. Without it, I wouldn't be able to go to any of my doctors at all. Just 2 of my meds together cost almost $5000 per month and I only have to pay the $18 copay thankfully. That isn't counting the other 10 medications I'm taking..some of them I don't pay for because I fill them at the military base. I feel bad because I don't see how other people without insurance can get the care that they deserve and they have every right to be seen and helped where they can also afford it.

I pay 100% out of pocket for my therapist because therapists with his credential are not reimbursed by my insurance plan. Just recently he upgraded his credential, so I now will have the option of getting 60% of his fee reimbursed, if I submit the paperwork to my insurance company. (My therapist does not bill any insurance himself.) I am not sure if I will do this or not. Lots to think about.

My insurance does pay 85% of my PNP's fee. I see her every two months.

Okay, so far everyone has been saying they have insurance or pay out of pocket. What if you don't have insurance AND do not have the money to pay out of pocket? Then what? I'm currently not in therapy nor go to doctor's for this exact reason....financially I cannot go. What is there for people who are uninsured and have little to no income? (I know Obamacare will take another 4 years to take effect.) I might have the option to join my parents plan once the age limit of 27 applies, but until then, I've got nothing.

It depends on what state you're in. Some have excellent free crisis care. Others require payment. But that's only for a crisis. I have never found a good solution myself for the ongoing care. I am fortunate that my PCP gives me samples of my meds cause I sure can't afford them.

I'm in Canada and I don't pay much for my treatment. I pay a maximum of 4% of my income a year on medications and I see my pdoc for medication and therapy every 2 weeks. I don't pay to see pdoc. I am covered by our provincial health plan. I don't make a lot of money so I don't pay much tax. Last year I paid about $320 on my medications, the rest was paid for by the government.

I''ve been to the psychward once and that was all paid for by our government health plan.

I would say I am getting a lot of value for my money. I'm very lucky to have such a great pdoc who I can see every 2 weeks for therapy and meds.

Hi Katileena,

Are you in school? Many colleges offer services on campus.

Do you work but they don't offer insurance? Could you do that work for a company that does offer insurance?

Could your parents help with this expense?

Many communities have community mental health services that are inexpensive or free. They would be listed in your phone book or you might Google "mental health services in X" (X=your community).

Here is an article from the PC newsletter. The article is titled: Mental Health and Money: For Those Without Insurance, Try These Options
http://blogs.psychcentral.com/anxiet...lth-and-money/

I hope this helps.

Kaitileena, check out Wisconsin's social services and the Federal Government site:

http://www.mhc.state.wi.us/links.htm

http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/databases/

http://dhs.wisconsin.gov/areaadmin/HSDListing.asp

Thanks for the links. I decided to try going to a therapist with a sliding fee scale. On the phone the woman I spoke to said with my income sessions would be $35. I hope this is the case; if it is, I might be able to afford atleast a few sessions.

I am disabled so medicare pays for my Pdoc visit with my copay $35. Medicare part D pays for part of my prescriptions but I still pay ~ $250/month until I hit the "donut hole" and I have to pay 100% for prescriptions. I had to stop taking Invega when I was in the donut hole because Invega cost $500 for a month's supply.

My son has no insurance, no benefits. He qualifies to see a free physician's asst that prescribes his meds for ADHD and bipolar. His meds cost ~$400/month. I am not happy with the quality of care with his PA and if/when I can start working per diem I will fire the PA and pay for a MD.

I have no insurance and currently cannot afford private insurance...
I pay for my weekly therapy session on a sliding scale through the county I live in ($27.00) which is Johnson County, KS. The county offers free crisis care and and almost free inpatient type of Crisis Care center where you can stay for a couple of weeks if you are either suicidal or going through a some sort of truma, it's NOT a hospital though, but an alternative.
The county does offer hospitalization if needed as well and you pay according to your income, the rest is coverered by gov't subsidies and grants.
There are many different free groups in KC metro area too (group therapy) for just about every psychiatric issue.

Im from Australia. We have medicare. I pay a gap payment of $25 for pdoc and $10 for general doctor. this is the cheapest i have heard of in Aust for a private pdoc. i negotiate the fee when i cant pay. and have have seen her for free also and the government and tax payers pay the rest of my medical bills. There are also goverment services which are free to see but usually short term and cbt or other basic therapy. Im very lucky to have the health care i do for so cheap. the pdoc actually charges 175 an hour. so its way cheaper.

I get subsidised meds so it costs around 6 dollars each medication.

I'm on Disability so have Medicare/Medicaid so I don't pay anything for my therapy or doctor visits. I am one of the lucky ones.

For my meds my Medicare part D has me pay either $2.50 or $6.30. I am hoping I don't hit the donut hole. The last couple of years I had an HMO instead of my Medicare, I'm not sure how it worked but Medicare paid them for my medical bills and through them I had dental and vision in addition to my regular stuff. Through them I also had my prescriptions and I didn't have to pay for my prescriptions either but this year they quit covering Arkansas. Bummer too because I could get contacts through them and now I have to get glasses and pay for them. I miss my Wellcare.

Jan