After hearing all the buzz in the news about the new healthcare law that goes into effect in January 2014 in the U.S., I decided to find out the likely impacts, if any for those who deal with mental health issues as the cost of doctors' visits affects the care we receive.

The healthcare law is a controversial, hot button topic. The aim of this post/thread is not to start a political debate as the law has already been passed. It's just to find out the facts and share our findings with each other so we can be informed and prepared.

In my research so far, it would seem that an area of concern is specialists versus primary care doctors and the costs associated with the two. Many mental health patients are able to manage their illness by visiting their primary care doctors who are able to monitor, and write prescriptions, while other more serious cases would warrant visits to specialist psychiatrists. What I am interested in is the costs of both. At first glance it would seem as if primary care visits would become more affordable.

On the insurance side of things I read that everyone must have health insurance. However I also read that private insurers would be forced to cut costs...

What a lot to learn, and find out about?



Please share any findings you have. Thanks

[Perna]

Thoughtful article on the subject:

Will 'Obamacare' Fill the Gaps in Our Mental Health System? - NationalJournal.com

Originally Posted by Perna

Thoughtful article on the subject:

Will 'Obamacare' Fill the Gaps in Our Mental Health System? - NationalJournal.com

Perna, thanks for the info. I know you meant well.

However, It was a bit painful to read the first paragraph considering the fact I have a mental health issue and already feel marginalized. However once I was able to get past that, the article helped to shed light.

[saturnssecret]

I don't have it on me right now but later on, I can pick up an article my mom brought home with my on Obamacare and California as far as obtaining insurance goes.

[ThisWayOut]

So far, I have littel to no understanding of the law, but I have not really had the presence of mind to look into it other than what I hear people say. The one thing I have found however (and please correct me if I am wrong) is that employers are now required to offer insurance benefits to anyone working more then 25 hours a week... as a result, I am finding SO MANY employers turn to a primarily p/t work force... this sucks because I could really use the benefits and the money from f/t or more hours, but no one will hire for more than 25 hours. They keep citing the new healthcare laws... is this correct? If it is, it's a part of the plan that is already back-firing.
Also, can someone briefly tell me how it requires that everyone have insurance, what the penalties are for not having any, and how it hopes to cover people who simply cannot afford yet another monthly expense? I would go to read all of this, but my distractability is high and my comprehension is low these days. Thanks in advance

[Otter63]

About 6 months ago my husband's insurance changed rather dramatically. They said it was due to the Health Care Act (Obama Care). If we wanted to keep our insurance as it had been, we would have to pay an extra $400 a month. That is not an option for us so we are now without insurance for mental health as well as alcohol and drug abuse issues.

I used to pay $30 a visit for my pdoc. Now I pay $100 a visit. My husband was in the middle of treatment for alcoholism when the insurance went away.

I'd like to say more, but I will bite my tongue.

[Perna]

Originally Posted by MdngtRain

The one thing I have found however (and please correct me if I am wrong) is that employers are now required to offer insurance benefits to anyone working more then 25 hours a week... as a result, I am finding SO MANY employers turn to a primarily p/t work force... this sucks because I could really use the benefits and the money from f/t or more hours, but no one will hire for more than 25 hours.

Only employers employing over X number of workers have to provide insurance and they cannot change/only hire part-time people; that possible loophole was closed (i.e., if they had 100 full time employees, (which I believe means you have to work at least a 30 hour week) they can't suddenly have 200 employees, each working 20 hours a week or something :-)

An employer can "refuse" to offer insurance and/or an employee can "refuse" to take an employer's insurance but either one of those; the employer/employee would have to pay a "penalty" to not offer/buy insurance.

If an employer does not offer insurance or cannot offer insurance (not enough employees/too small a business/refuses) then the employee can still get insurance at that "same" price (can't be more than 8% of one's income) through their State's or the Federal exchange (not all states are going to have exchanges and for those states that don't there will be a Federal exchange where people can go).

Here's a better idea of how it will all work, including mental health coverage:

32 Million More Will Get Mental-Health Care Under Obamacare

[Otter63]

I'm happy for the millions, but my husband and I worked very hard to finally get a small amount of financial stability after years of instability. Now we could easily be toppled again if one of us comes unglued at all.
Were it not for Obama Care I would still have mental health coverage!

Thank you Chelbten for starting this thread!!! And thank all of you for what you have found on this subject...been kinda CONFUSED about the entire thing for some time....

Anyone with more data...thank you all too...I will be reading here, as I must find out more.

Times like these, we had someone who used to find out everything for us....

Where oh where are you, our informant on all things? Near and far, scientific and other...

((((((TheByzantine))))))need you, you know?

~~~my thanks to everyone here?~~ respectfully, virago

[angustios101]

To those who have posted about the sticker shock associated with your employer-sponsored plan's monthly premiums due to Obamacare, there is an exception in the law that if your monthly premium is more than 9% of your monthly take home pay then you are eligible to enroll in the health insurance exchanges that are starting up in October even if you are also eligible for your employer-based plan. However, it's unclear what the monthly premiums for the exchange plans will be since the exchanges are not up and running yet.

Additionally, if you have a preexisting condition (i.e. mental illness) and you don't have health insurance right now and di not voluntarily end your prior health insurance coverage, you can apply for your state's high risk medical pool. This is different from the federal high risk pool which stopped accepting new members early this year in anticipation of the health exchanges rollout. Some states have a low income premium plan where you get up to 75% off the monthly premium depending on your income reported on your tax return. I'd look into this sooner rather than later because these state high risk plans may also stop accepting members once the exchanges get up and running. These plans were made for people who would be denied individual health insurance due to their mental illness history.

Lastly, if you are an adult without dependents who is low income but does not qualify for medicaid, chances are you live in a state where you will soon be eligible to get on medicaid under Obamacare. And of course there's the Mental Health Parity Act of 2008 which purportedly has been in effect since 2009 and may be more rigorously enforced under Obamacare, who knows.

I think the best thing about Obamacare is that the law allows for simultaneous internal and external appeals. This means if your insurance company denies you a treatment or drug, you can file both an internal appeal with the insurance company AND and an external appeal with your state's insurance commission. I'm doing so right now and it's moving things along rather quickly since I don't have to exhaust the internal process before getting the regulators involved.

Anyway, hope this helps.