How Does Anyone Pay For Inpatient Treatment?

[Snow]

I am desperate to get the help I need. I have tried outpatient treatment, medication(which I still take) and short stay inpatient. I am ready to go get the help I need. I am so close but after looking around all over the United States it is REALLY hard for me to find a place that takes any insurance at all. They are all private pay!.

The place I feel would benefit me the most would be $79,000 for 8 weeks.. they will file for reimbursement but I would have to have that money upfront when admitted. (So far they are al about that expensive) How is anyone supposed to get the help they need with that kind of price tag? I am new to this idea so I may be overlooking something really simple. I have been told there are 'scholarships' out there that can possibly help. Does anyone know of any?

I'm getting impatient and starting to feel a bit hopeless.

 

[xena21]

That's a good question. I know where I live my insurance only covers short hospital stays, and then you get the boot. I actually had the horrible first hand experience of an extended stay at a State Hospital (which you DON'T want) when my insurance ran out and my PTSD symptoms were still so bad, the hospital thought I needed continued care. They transferred me to the State "system", where I was told I would probably be able to get out in a couple weeks, but due to the lack of support and treatment, as well as horror that went on in that place...I was kept in there for almost 6 months. Well, I escaped twice, but in total 6 months of my life became additional trauma. The irony of it all was that I was eligible for VA care, but nobody knew the system.

What I'm getting at is you need to find a supportive environment, if possible, not a Hell hole that people are left to rot in. If you find something, I'd be curious to hear what it is. I mean beyond where the Hollywood actors and Actresses go. Good luck in your search.

 

[Deleted member 12723]

It is so expensive everywhere. I found out today that my HMO does not provide services at all for my husband who has dementia. I am on my own. I am eligable for hospice for when he is dying for six months but that is all. It really sucks.

When I first got diagnosed with ptsd they wanted to put me in the hospial but I could not afford it. I think it is a tragedy that the ones who need the help the most cannot afford it. The prices are outragous.

 

[Innordinate]

Reading this, glad I live in Canada. The states really needs to pick up their mental health care system. Yikes!

 

[xena21]

Yes, I think the US needs to make some changes. It's funny because in the past I had always thought the US was the "gold standard" for medical treatment around the world, but since being a patient in the system I realized that's not true. I started reading things about how other countries like Canada treated their patients and it just made me angry how much waste and prejudice is in our system...prejudice meaning stigma in this case.

Before becoming a patient in a hospital, I used to interview patients for my job. I worked in law enforcement and I had to travel to state hospitals to interview psychiatrists as well as the patients they were treating for various threats they made against individuals. I never saw the side I experienced. Of course that's going to be the case, because the doctors don't want you to see what the patients are experiencing, but the actual mental health system that I experienced where I lived was so different and disgusting I don't have words to explain.

I still have nightmares from being in the hospital, and dealing with the doctors there. There was no therapy or treatment program just drug pushing and housing. It was like something from a movie. I can't believe I didn't see that when I was working. I feel so disgusted with myself for being so naive, and overlooking those patients back then. I probably disregarded them like I was disregarded. It's appalling.

Just had to vent. Disgusting system we have here.

 

[therapybankrupt]

Just had to vent. Disgusting system we have here.

My thoughts also Xena21. Will never go to a hospital again! They have to drug you up so you can cope with what goes on there.

How is it that the office visit co pay for mental health has its own inflated pricing. Why isn't it under specialists like my Neurologist and Thyroid Doctor? Talk about not making the mental health care affordable. Three years ago my Medicare plan set up by the government with personally paid for part B and an additional insurance only covered 80 percent of the copay. AT the time was 320 dollars copay per visit. I really fell behind going once a week.

Thank goodness this year and last year the co pay is 40 dollars. Note as compared to the specialist at 25 dollar co pay. I question why this is so out of whack? You want to know why people with mental health issues do not get help in the USA? Look at what the systems charges for treatment! More than any other medical copay! What constitutes the highest payment for service one wonders.

Please tell me people does anyone know why its more than any other specialist? Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. I have had so much financial medical debt attempting to get well. Hence the avatar.

TB

 

[Only 1 of me]

Yep it is similar in the UK. I have health insurance through work, but mental health cover is limited to 28 days whereas other conditions are unlimited. I think it's a chicken and egg situation in that because its limited its expensive and because its expensive it is limited. My hospital stays were around £700 per day. Now I've reached the end of that limit I'm very lucky, my work are picking up the tab for EMDR. The National Health Service have told me they can't offer me any support while I'm still being treated privately. I have no personal experience of mental hospitals beyond visiting friends in several and what is described above resonates with the drug them and house them approach mentioned. I'm scared that if I get bad again that's my only option, I know I'm lucky that at least I have that option and its free but it's still scary.

 

[shoulderblades]

Isn't it amazing how the very thing we need most to survive - our health - is also the very thing that costs the most to maintain. Yet luxury items, fast food and things we don't need and that don't benefit our health are affordable. Talk about bent capitalist priorities. Our health should be a human right, not a human privilege; and that human right should extend equally to those who live in developing countries, too.

This world sure is run by a bunch of greedy fascist arseholes who milk the system for all it's worth simply because they can, while the rest of us suffer and struggle through life. End rant, lol.