[dolphingirl]

One of my parents has good health insurance and I would be able to go to a p-doc relatively cheap, compared to self-pay. The only issue is that I wouldn't want my parent to get a copy of a bill. It seems like even when we havent' listed my parent's address, they somehow still get a copy of the bill. Is there someway I could talk to the insurance company and have them not send a bill to that parent?

[Inedible]

Laws vary from state to state. There is no way to know or to look it up.

[ECHOES]

Since it is your parent's policy, they will get a copy of claims paid on that policy.

I don't know if pdoc's billing office would be able to send a bill or account statement only to you, since your parent/the insurance company would be listed in the pdoc's records as being the guarantor, the party responsible for payment. But you could ask, stating you need this to be private.

Your parent won't have any access to the reason you see the pdoc. You could get creative there - maybe say you see the pdoc for a sleep medication or something like that? Then everything would be above board and maybe not so stressful to deal with.

Go a little deeper and ask yourself why you don't want this particular parent to know that you're having to see a P-Doc.

When I found my family to be too counter productive to my mental healthcare needs, I decided (as difficult as it was) to simply not include them in my process at all.

Of course, that meant I was all on my own as far as paying for my mental healthcare needs, but at least it was drama and trauma free.

[dolphingirl]

Yeah, even when we've tried not putting their name down as a person to receive a bill or responsible for payment, they still seem to get a copy of it anyway. My guess would be that when the dr.s office bills the insurance company, the insurance company then sends them a statement of services/costs/ a bill. My parents just don't understand my struggles. They either tell me to get over it or blame someone. I consider myself pretty much grown, I've been in college a few years and pay all of my own bills/expenses. I do got to school full-time and work, but I just don't have $250-$350 for the initial assessment then 1-200 for follow up appointments, but I could certainly afford $30 for an appointment. Should I just talk to the insurance company?

There are many clinics that work on sliding scale fees based on income. Many states also have mental healthcare services that are low cost to no cost for those who are struggling financially.

I've utlized all these services at one time or the other, and whenever I find myself with a little extra dough to toss around now, I make donations to these types of clinics so it can help others who are struggling to get their mental healthcare needs met.

Being a survivor of child sexual abuse and domestic violence, I tend to send money to organizations who provide low cost to no cost services to others who are struggling to overcome the long term and often debilitating effects of all that.

But, don't you worry about helping others right now ... Find and utilize the services you need for you until you are in a better space, then you can choose a way to give back and help others.

I'd personally not want anyone that poo-poo'd the seriousness of my struggles to be involved in my process in any way ... FAMILY INCLUDED ... !!!

I believe it would be counterproductive to your process to continue trying to find a way to skirt around all that ... It would be much better to focus all that energy on getting the help you need on your own so you can heal and recover hindrance free.

This is based on my own experiences and only in my humble opinion, of course.

[Perna]

I would see if your school has insurance for students (or, some association in the subject you're majoring or interested in; for example, I was a history major and the American Historical Association had insurance plans I could have qualified for, they don't have that anymore but I know my husband has IEEE insurance, as an engineer and member of that association) and then you could have your own? If you find a way to get your own health insurance, maybe your parents will reimburse you for it (or some of it) but, that way, you would control whose insurance it was so they would not receive any payouts.