Dependence on T/MH insurance rant

I know I rant alot. But, I want to rant and I don't want to pester anybody. So I will rant in a way where the readers can choose to ignore me if they are not in the mood.
I started thinking about my odd dependence on this near stranger that I have only talked to three times. At first, I needed her to soothe my worries like a parent would do with a child sometimes. Now, I feel like I just need her to encourage me to believe that it is possible to change my negative thinking. I seem to stop believing it is not possible until she reminds me that it is. Why is that? I don't want to become dependent on someone else for psychological needs. It scares me. I feel like I am not in control when I need someone else especially when it comes to an emotional/psychological need. grrrr!
On the mental health insurance, I called my EAP today to see what the co-pay is. Every time I go in I get rather confusing responses from the receptionists on what my co-pay. While on the phone, she stated that the counselor needs to certify for the next sessions. (I am guessing this means ask them for permission to meet again) Since this was supposed to be done after the second visit, I am not sure what this means. I left a message and will mention it in our next session. I am wondering if she did and they just didn't see the file. My EAP gave me a startle. She couldn't even find my file at first. She had to repeatedly try. I made a joke about me being lost. She made a comment that she thought momentarily that she was going crazy because she remembered talking to me. I felt the need to say that noone is going crazy not you or me.
Why is a person's medical insurance different than their mental health insurance? Why does someone have to get permission to talk to a counselor from their EAP before talking to one or get fined? Could you imagine me having to set there and describe my symptoms over the phone before I can talk to my regular doctor? I can't. So why do I have to in the mental health area? I tend to feel that I want to be more private about mental health matters than medical health. But, maybe thats because I usually get a "You are normal" letter in the mail from my doctor. My health insurance has a card that has the co-pay information and tells you things on a yearly basis. I didn't hardly know what my mental health benefits are without the EAP having to tell me. My counselor's agency have been told that she is in network and outside of network. Apparently, if you look her up on the website in one way, you can find her as a provider. If you look her up another way, she doesn't come up. What are some of your experiences with your mental health insurance? EAP? I got a slight headache from talking to them.

The company that I work for provides a written description every year of exactly what the health benefits include, where to send in the paperwork, how to find the listing of preferred providers, where to call for questions. Mental health is included with the health care coverage and mental health care providers are included in the preferred provider listing.

We also have an EAP which provides so many free sessions per year. If further treatment is needed, they refer you to a provider on the approved listing and then treatment is covered under the medical plan.

Perhaps you can make contact with your company's human resource dept and request to get a copy of the benefit plan where all the details should be spelled out. The EAP contact you are speaking with might not be directly connected to your plan's administration. Meaning that they might be 3rd party contractors who have been hired to provide EAP services but not necessarily have the ins and outs of your company's specific plan.

It can be difficult to keep track of everything especially since most plans change from year to year.

Hope this helps

I did get the information on the co-pay. Now, I hope my T did the certification thing (beg for more sessions). I left a message to the fact that the insurance claims that she hadn't done it yet.
Oddly my EAP didn't even want to try giving me any free sessions. They just referred me. I must have scared them with my silly thought of suicide. Hey, I do that now and again. *grin*

I never went through an EAP, but my company switched MD providers for me once when I was seeing a therapist and he was suddenly out-of-network. He had me write a letter to the insurance company explaining why I wanted to keep working with him. They didn't reimburse fully, but I ended up with only a $30 co-pay. (That added up after a few weeks, but it was better than starting over with someone new.)

I had trouble following, sorry, it's because of the big paragraph without breaks. What I was thinking though, is that it often takes a few weeks before a T can set a dx under which to bill.. and maybe having to describe your symptoms initially was for the office person to be able to bill? Certainly keep tabs on this with your T, let him/her be your liaison if you continue to be confused about the whys, imo. TC