Mental Health Notes - News, Education and Advocacy

Want To Keep Your Health Insurance? Better Not Use Mental Health Services

by Alicia Sparks, Mental Health Notes on September 23rd, 2008

Warning: Rant follows below, after the jump.

Back in August, I told you about the Consumers Union Cover America Tour - the campaign geared toward putting faces on the Americans who don’t have health insurance, who can’t afford their prescription medications, or who otherwise have problems finding affordable and quality health care.

During that post, I pointed out two specific stories: Tom’s story, the man who began experiencing depression from the pain and hopelessness of his health problems and high cost of health care, and Kathy’s story, the woman who compared not being able to pay for her diabetes medicine as “committing suicide slowly.”

Now, I want to point you to Kim’s story.

Kim, a drug safety advocate, shared her story with the Consumers Union when she hosted a house party for the Cover America Tour and supporters in Minneapolis during the Republican National Convention. Kim’s husband, who had no history of depression and was merely having trouble sleeping, committed suicide five weeks after his doctor gave him sample packs of antidepressants. Kim later quit her job to become a freelancer and have more time to devote to her drug safety advocacy work. 18 months later, after her COBRA period was up, Kim tried to get a private health insurance plan from the same health insurance company she’d been with for years.

She was denied.

Once the insurance company saw that she’d used the 20 allotted counselor visits from her previous policy, she was denied. Even though she explained she didn’t have a mental illness - that she used the counseling sessions for grief therapy - she was denied.

The insurance company had the audacity to tell her “mental illness starts out slow” and that she might turn into “Britney Spears.”

Kim finally found coverage with another insurance company, but she had to be able to show that she hadn’t received any psychiatric care in the two years prior to being approved.

You can read Kim’s story and watch her video online. Then, feel free to join in my rants below after the jump.

First, where does the first insurance company get off denying Kim coverage because she used the coverage they offered her? Why offer the counseling services if they were just going to punish her for using them? Was offering the counseling services in the first place just some kind of stunt so the insurance company could say, “Oh, look at us, we’re so advanced, we care about your overall health,” while all along using the coverage to make a list of policyholders who may potentially need mental health care in the future? I think so.

Second, just who the crap does the first insurance company people think they are? Giving Kim advice on the progression of mental illness? Excuse me, but I didn’t know insurance company employees were also trained medical professionals.

Third, how dare they use Britney Spears’s personal life like that.

Fourth, is it just me or does it seem like not one person in the health insurance industry has ever needed a mental health service? I mean, seriously. One in every four people during any given year meets the criteria for a mental illness. Either the three totally mentally health people out of every group of four are working at these health insurance companies, or the people at these health insurance companies who have mental health problems know some secret to mental health care the rest of us don’t.

Fifth, I am appalled - but not shocked - that Kim was basically put through a two-year test to determine whether or not she could get coverage with the other company. People don’t purchase insurance because they don’t need it; people purchase insurance because they do need it, or because they want to be prepared in the event that they need it. Why was this woman made to prove that she wouldn’t need mental health care before she purchased her policy? MONEY.

Essentially, these insurance companies are promoting stigma. If you need mental health coverage, they shun you, making you - and so many other Americans - feel as if your mental health is not something to discuss or deal with.

So, what do you think about Kim’s story?

Image: SXC

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POSTED IN: Resources