[IndestructibleGirl]

My inquisitive nature making me wonder. What proportion of your disposable income do you spend on your therapy? Does it mean big sacrifices elsewhere?

I've decided to up my sessions again, because an hour a week is simply not enough right now. It's going to mean a real balancing act for my finances and possibly extra work if I can realistically find it/do it, but I am fed up feeling this way and am desperate to progress. Slightly scared though. I think it will require a third of my current income.

What about you guys? Is it easy or a struggle to afford?

[pmbm]

Therapy is a struggle to afford. I have a big copayment and we do not make a lot of money. Every time I find myself with an extra $5 or $10, I stash it away to help pay for my two hours of therapy a week, my 2 hours a month at a karate studio with my therapist, my massage therapist, and my acupuncturist. I used to just let myself have one hour of therapy a week, but now that I see my therapist twice a week and have the supplemental therapies, I feel like I am actually healing instead of stagnating.

[pbutton]

I am just about ready to hit my deductible for the year, so my cost will drop to 0. I told T that once insurance starts picking up the cost that I will need to start coming 6 times a week.

[IndestructibleGirl]

Yes! Stagnating is crap glad you're making progress with your plan pmbm! Shows it's worth the investment.

[IndestructibleGirl]

Originally Posted by pbutton

I am just about ready to hit my deductible for the year, so my cost will drop to 0. I told T that once insurance starts picking up the cost that I will need to start coming 6 times a week.

I totally don't understand how insurance works with therapy here in the UK, but nobody really seems to get therapy on their private insurance. You guys across the pond are so lucky you can get it covered!

You should totally go six days a week In all seriousness, will you be able to do extra sessions for free if you want them??

[nottrustin]

[quote=IndestructibleGirl;3972061]I totally don't understand how insurance works with therapy here in the UK, but nobody really seems to get therapy on their private insurance. You guys across the pond are so lucky you can get it covered!

I wonder if this is why our insurance costs a lot more money to have??

[guilloche]

I'm not sure how to figure out the percentage, since my budget is fluctuating a bit.

My T is really expensive - I'm hoping that's a reflection on his skills, and he'll be able to help, because past Ts really didn't help at all. We'll see. I'm willing to take a chance, because if it works, it will be 100% worth it.

Right now to afford it, I've only been going every other week. I think I will need to move to weekly though. I'm fortunate, I have a good income and savings - and have a really cheap house/mortgage. I've been overpaying on the house to try to pay it off quickly, so I can reduce that quite a bit, still meet my obligations, but free up some extra cash for T.

I also started a "health savings account" this year. My intent was to save the money and invest it, then use my receipts (from T and other medical stuff) to pull it out tax-free in 20 or 30 years, but I think using it to pay for T now may be necessary. It means that there is money taken out of my paycheck that I don't pay taxes on that I can use to pay for T and medical stuff... b/c of the limits (I think like ~$3000/year) it's not enough to cover me seeing T every week for an entire year, but... it still will help.

And, after all that, I might try to use insurance - but he is "out of network". My deductibe for out of network is insane (~$3750 or so this year, probably going up next year), and I think they won't count his entire... like if he charged $300 (he doesn't), I think they'd say the usual and customary fee for my area is $150, so that's all they'll credit towards my deductible. Then, once I hit the deductible, they'd pay 50% of the usual and customary fee (if I understand correctly).

Yes, I've thought about this alot. It's very frustrating. T wants me to go out and do things (to meet people), but it's hard when most of my "disposable" income will go to T !

[healed84]

I'm lucky to have have great health insurance and pay a pretty low co-pay every appointment for T and that is it. So, really it is an insignificant part of our income that goes towards my appointments. Now, its when we were paying out of pocket for marriage T and then my co-pays for my own T where H got a little worried about our money.

[HazelGirl]

About 14% goes to therapy ($240 out of $1750).

[ThisWayOut]

I have a sliding scale payment at a community clinic, so I pay very little ($5 a session, but no opportunity for anything outside of that hour a week, and I see a student). Even that is a lot though. It's not a lot of my income, but it's a good 50 percent of what's left after bills and gas for the car each month... the rest of that extra cash has gone to the art journal workshop I attend once a month for the past 3 months... I have paid more for therapy in the past when I had insurance copays, but i also ran up a hefty bill with a former t that I am still paying off 2 years later (totally worth it at the time, and even now). I don't know what I'd do if I had to pay more right now, probably not go to therapy.

[IndestructibleGirl]

It's really difficult. How do you put a price on healing?!

The pdoc I'm trying to get seen by is approx $700 for the initial appointment. I certainly can't afford that on a regular basis either.

Sigh. I need to bump up my earning so I can throw money at my problems. Hence I'm on pc while working now when it's 2.30am in London, my second night of hardly any sleep, which then probably does my mental health no favours at all

It is hard to win, sometimes.

[Blue_Bird]

Medicaid covers mine

[stopdog]

About 5%

[Leah123]

http://forums.psychcentral.com/psych...es-feel-2.html

[tealBumblebee]

It was 12% of my income when I was out of pocket; but it only made up 39% of what she actually charged per session (sliding scale).

Now that I have insurance I pay 7% of my income after deductible but she receives 95% of her actual session cost.

[BlessedRhiannon]

Way more than I would like!! Neither my T nor my Pdoc take insurance. I could claim out of network and send in the receipts, but you have to jump through all kinds of hoops with my plan to get approved for mental health coverage, especially out of network. It's more hassle than it's worth to try and get reimbursed by insurance. I just deduct it from my taxes as healthcare expenses, each year.

Right now, with new meds and a new diagnosis, I'm seeing pdoc every 2 weeks and T every week - so, that's about 25% of my income. Yes, it is very much a struggle right now. Once my pdoc appointments are able to be spaced farther out, it will drop to about 15% of my income. At the moment, I'm having to give up a lot of leisure activities to afford T and pdoc.

[kororain]

Nada. When I switched jobs a couple of months ago, I opted to be put on my husband's insurance, rather than sign up for cobra for a couple of months beforee new insurance kicks in.

So its free. Husband has an HSA account.

[stopdog]

A timely blog from psychology today

Paying for Psychotherapy | Psychology Today

[HealingTimes]

About 13% of my income goes on therapy. I think its a small price to pay for keeping myself alive and functioning.

[lostwonder]

Around 2% excluding transportation and childcare costs. It isn't a huge sacrifice for my family anymore. It used to be a much much higher percentage, and I had less visits.

[Willowleaf]

I'm in the UK and it is about 20% for me which is difficult for a single parent, but it has made my parenting skills better and I have a decent job now so it's worth it. Just wish I felt better.......

[scorpiosis37]

I just did the calculation and I spend 3% of my total income on therapy. I'm lucky in that I have good insurance so my co-pay is not very high.