[RoamingMind]

Question that is driving me insane.

Does anyone know of any health insurance plans that offer good mental
health insurance coverage?

I was looking online for plans and the ones I found cover 12, and some of them, 8 visits a year.

Who can get by with 8 visits a year? That's insane!

We are on Cigna, but it is through a group policy. I don't know if they even offer individual policies if that is what you are looking for. I think individual coverage may be much different. Cigna treats mental health as any other specialist. We pretty much have unlimited access to mental health care. We pay the copay for specialists. Hospitalization is handled like any other medical hospitalization. Drug coverage is the same. Other one or two isolated issues over the many years we've used Cigna, we are basically very pleased.

[searchinggirl]

Originally Posted by RoamingMind

Question that is driving me insane.

Does anyone know of any health insurance plans that offer good mental
health insurance coverage?

I was looking online for plans and the ones I found cover 12, and some of them, 8 visits a year.

Who can get by with 8 visits a year? That's insane!

I can only advise you not to go with Kaiser. In my opinion the therapists there are extremely ineffective and I have been around the therapist circut. That is because I am a big fan of interpersonal type therapy, and they just put you into a DBT group and call it good. Sorry it's not a direct answer, but perhaps its a start.

[lad007]

I have Blue Cross and they have good coverage, it's only a 30 co-pay each time you go, and the prescription plan is good too. My company has it and I pay about 150 a month for it.

[RoamingMind]

Originally Posted by lad007

I have Blue Cross and they have good coverage, it's only a 30 co-pay each time you go, and the prescription plan is good too. My company has it and I pay about 150 a month for it.

What's Kaiser?

You have a Blue Cross group policy though, I might be able to get a part time job that will give me health insurance, but it'll be a 90 day gap though.

What can I do in the meantime? I don't want to be excluded for pre-existing conditions.

[Suki22]

what state are you in?

I'd hazard a guess that most of the people who are posting that they have insurance policies that "give good mental health coverage" are policies that are through BIG group policies. For example, like farmergirl,I get my insurance through a school district, who buys it policy through a LARGE collective of school districts. This types of polices have the most advantage because it's a large group of people/schools paying for the insurance and many individuals don't use the services because they don't need it. It's one of the reason people right now hate pension/benefit plans for goverment/state workers. We are very lucky that the services that we are able to access are generally good. I wish that for EVERYONE in the US. It's why I'm so confused as to why we are so opposed as a country to a universal health plan. I get that many of us who have good insurance are afraid of having it taken away, but it's time for us to recognize that it isn't fair that some of us get it and others can't.

I do know that Vermont has a lot of free clinics and shelters for teens. Wish more states were like that! Hope things work out okay for you, Roamingmind.

[mommyof2girls]

I have Aetna.... Its great I have like 90 visits a year with my T... and only a $10.00 copay....

[Mistie89]

I live in Texas. I have BC/BS of Texas. My insurance is private and not through a group plan so mental health is not covered for me. I'm in a bind because I don't have enough money to pay for therapy because I'm spending it on insurance, but my insurance doesn't cover therapy. Not sure what to do myself.

[ElisaB]

Originally Posted by RoamingMind

Question that is driving me insane.

Does anyone know of any health insurance plans that offer good mental
health insurance coverage?

I was looking online for plans and the ones I found cover 12, and some of them, 8 visits a year.

Who can get by with 8 visits a year? That's insane!

I've had BCBS for 9-10 years. They cover everything, visits, hospitalization, etc. ECT's are a bit expensive, but less than regular out of pocket. And their prescription covereage was excellent. I'm sorry to not have it any more.

[tigerlily84]

To those without insurance/with crappy mental health coverage:

You can contact local hospitals and you can see if you can see the resident MD's based on a sliding scale. That's what I do currently. In fact, one of the members here on PC gave me the phone number of where I currently see my T. My T is a student, but she is supervised by a licensed psychologist. It's working out so far. Something to think about. BTW, I don't have insurance.

Also, you can go on http://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/Search_HCC.aspx. This is the "find a health center" link on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website. You can search using your address, state or county to find a local health center where you can pay via sliding scale. And yes, they offer mental health as well. Be prepared for waiting lists.