Reality check: Fewer than one-third of adults with a mental illness
receive mental health treatment. More awareness and advocacy needed for
sure.
This is a sad truth indeed posted by NAMI today. Not only are more awareness and advocacy needed, there needs to be a major reform in health care.
Unless you are very well off, or dirt poor, services just aren't feasible. When I was married, and considered to be middle class, I couldn't afford to go to therapy. A weekly $20 copay wasn't in the budget with two small kids, and bills to pay. I certainly wouldn't have been able to afford the bi-weekly therapy that I receive now, or the copay for APRN who prescribes my medications. Lets not even talk about the copay for medicine. With everything that I take, it would be around $100 per month. So for the therapy I receive currently, it would cost roughly $280 per month in copays alone. That didn't fit in the budget, so I didn't get services.
Another thing that hinders people getting services is getting someone to see you. Trying to find a therapist that 1. takes new patients, and 2. takes your insurance, is no small feat. It takes a mental health crisis to get into see a therapist. It seems that if the referral doesn't come from a hospital, or a PHP (partial hospitalization program) it isn't taken seriously. It would be far less expensive for all involved to provide preventative services, at little to no cost to the patient, than to pay for at least a week of hospitalization and 6 weeks of PHP. For two days of PHP, the bill was close to $2000, multiply that times 5 for 6 weeks, and you're looking at about $30,000 in medical expenses. Most people don't stay at 5 days a week for the entire time, realistically it would be more like $20,000 which is still an astronomical figure.
Now, being below poverty level, I get the services I need at no cost to me. I won't always be eligible for this program, and to be honest, the thought of not being able to afford my therapy terrifies me. If there aren't changes made soon, I could be out of therapy and struggling to make it on my own.
I know that many people won't agree with the fact that we need healthcare reform, but think of how much better millions of Americans could be if services were available and affordable.
You are absolutely right. My medication costs are down to $40 monthly because several are now generic. At one point it was close to $200 for medication, another $60 for therapy, and an additional $30 for psychiatrist visit. And I am not the only one in my house being treated for mental illness. I have a child on meds ($100) who sees a therapist costing another $60 per month and his own psychiatrist at an additional $30. And I thank God that we have the insurance to cover what it does. We would be without care without the insurance, and that terrifies me.
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