Ptsd - Therapist Needed, But How?

[catjudo]

I would highly recommend looking into a Medicare Advantage Plan instead of Original Medicare at the next open enrollment opportunity. All of the Medicare Advantage plans must cover, at minimum, the same things that Original Medicare does, but many of them cover more and have smaller out of pocket expenses. Even if you qualify for Medicaid or other additional help, you can sign up for an advantage plan and still continue to receive those other benefits. There are advantage plan options that do not cost anything more than what you're already paying for Medicare. The advantage plans that are available vary from state to state and even county to county, but in Cincinnati it looks like there are plans available through Aetna and Humana as well as other insurance companies. You can get more information about these plans on the medicare.gov website.

In the meantime, if you're looking for a list with phone numbers, I would use Solara's recommendation of searching the medicare website. A quick search gave me a list of 55 psychologists in the Cincinnati area who accept Medicare and will not bill you for any more than your medicare deductible and coinsurance. You can also use the website to enter different search criteria. It's quite possible that some of these people are not accepting new patients at the moment, but there's a list that you can use to start making phone calls.

I know it can be frustrating and overwhelming. Best of luck.

 

[anthony]

@Janne if you can't get him into a therapist quick enough, get him to go online. Get him registered here and talking with others, and if he's a combat vet, get him to register on the http:// website and chat with other combat veterans. This is something he can do for himself whilst awaiting a therapist appointment.

Online has some real advantages... being its open 24/7 when you need help.

 

[Janne]

Thank you @catjudo and @anthony - my husband signed in here yesterday but will maybe not be able to participate at the moment - there are a lot of triggers. I really do hope that this site will be of some kind of help for him.
He doesn't want to be hospitalized - they will use drugs on him and he cannot take any. He has tried that before and knows that he will be isolated there. The urgency for a therapist is what we are working on now.
I am Danish, we are newly married and I know too little about how the care system works here.
Until now he has called without success - we will try the list with the 55 therapists accepting Medicare.
Since we are both on disability money is a huge issue.

You all know what PTSD stands for - anxiety and depression are the major problems and I am trying to support him the best I can. Of course it's hard to see him suffer so much but I am trying to fight for him.


Thank you again - I appreciate so very much every single reply from you.

 

[Janne]

55 psychologists in the Cincinnati area - called 25 of them - left two messages to call back, and two phone calls where actually answered by secretaries and I was promised that the doctors would call back...crossng my fingers :)
Criteria are : no males, only females, on the Ohio side of the river, new patient, MediCare.

Several phone numbers were wrong and university psychologists are out of question.

 

[Janne]

So far none has called back....but that was kind of expected anyway..

Thank you @Justmehere for your concern above - I love my husband very dearly and I am proud of how he's able to handle his situation but he does need help - the help that I cannot give him.
Though I do understand a lot I don't live inside his mind and it's so hard to not being able to help..

 

[Deleted member 1860]

@Justmehere,
What is the benefit to being dual eligible? I guess I am missing the point or don't fully understand it. I am a qualified medicare beneficiary which pretty much means that anything covered by medicare is fully covered, that is my QMB picks up any co-pay. (It is income based, so if your income is low enough for Medicaid, it is already low enough for QMB.) I could see going the dual route for a few reasons, but around here, Medicare is accepted everywhere whereas Medicaid services are very limited and most doctors aren't accepting new patients.

 

[Justmehere]

@Solara

Two ways it can help:

1.) If someone has medicare and full Medicaid, rather than medicare and just qmb Medicaid, it can actually significantly increase options for them, especially in terms of therapists.

In many states, there more therapists that take Mediciaid than medicare. This doesn't hold true for any other health care provider. Generally there are more providers that take medicare than Medicaid. It's is different with therapists because the rules to become a therapist that can take medicare are very strict and require things that even most licensed psychologists don't have (not if they are outside of a large community mental health center).

So with full Medicaid in addition to medicare, someone has even more options than with medicare alone.

2.) If someone has medicare and qmb Mediciaid, unlike the above situation, they can't see someone that just takes Mediciaid. The provider has to also take medicare or qmb Medicaid won't generally kick in. However, having qmb Medicaid legally puts responsibility on the state to make sure they help the person find care if the Medicaid recipient can't find it on their own.

Also, there are some states where there are many providers who will only take Medicaid if medicare is also primary. (This is very common in my own state)

Because medicare is federal but Medicaid is state funded, the benefit of having Medicaid and the number of providers who take Medicaid can widely vary state by state. So it may be more helpful in my state and not very helpful in yours. The general idea of having dual eligible people is that they are the most needy and thus should have the most options, but it doesn't always work out that way.

 

[scot]

I hope you found somebody. I know its not easy from own experiences and the "normal" hospitals that are locally round might not be a good option. May I ask how long you are living in the USA? I am just asking because I am from Europe. Compared to where I am from, the US health system sucks badly and I can only advise newcomer from the Good Old Europe to be very careful. Always ask how much it costs in advance because accepting the health plan doesn't mean you don't need to pay a whole bunch yourself - very different from the Europe I know.

 

[Deleted member 27845]

No, I have not found a therapist as of yet. I've made countless calls and all with the same results. Thank you all for your kind help.

 

[joeylittle]

Hey, welcome @GregoryH ! Very, very glad you're here. I remember when I couldn't get anyone to treat me when I was in one particular city, it was really frustrating, frightening, demoralizing. Keep looking. It was also mentioned upthread, but check out NAMI - google it, go to your region, and see what might be available even in the way of support groups or programs. Hang in there. And use this place to the utmost, it's full of resource.

 

[Deleted member 27845]

Thank you, Joey. I already a member of NAMI :) I haven't given up.

 

[Janne]

@scot - I have been in the USA since March and learning :)
@joeylittle - thank you for your reply :)
@GregoryH - I hope we've found some help here :)