I am so frustrated and upset I don't know if I can stand it much more.
My son had been seeing a therapist and we were trying some behavior modification with him to see if it helped with his problems. Well, my insurance comany was switched and the new one is so restrictive in their in-network providers, that we can't see this same therapist. We live in a large metropolitan area, and I cannot believe it, but so far, we have only been able to find one child therapist that is in-network that isn't in an area that we would have to drive into or through the inner city to get to. I haven't called yet to see if they are even accepting patients.
Then...on to finding a ped psychiatrist - we live 15 miles from a Childrens Hospital. None of the ped psych there are in-network. I was not able to find one ped psych on my ins co website, so I called and was complaining to them. They called me back that they found several within this one group - so I called this group, we would have to see one of their therapists first - fine, irritating since he had already been seeing one, but fine. Then, we find out that none of the psych would be able to even see him till the end of November. AND...their location closest to us does not even have one there.
I am so so frustrated. Is it always this hard? We have a 00 deductible for mental health if we go out of network, so we would have to pay it all out of pocket. My son is struggling so much he just doesn't have 3 months to wait just to get started.
Any thoughts or suggestions? I am becoming very tempted just to go out of network and just pay whatever we have to pay.
I have a call in to our ped to see if she has any thoughts on what we can do or how to proceed.
Your pdoc is a good place to start. If you stay in network how much does it cost? If you go outside of the network what's the cost at that point? On my plan, out of network docs are a 30% copay. Have you talked to the insurance company to see what they can do? Sometimes all it takes is calling and bugging someone. I know I was like you, ready to pay what I had to pay to get my son diagnosed and treated. Fortunately for us things worked out, but it was only after many battles. I'm sorry I can't be more encouraging, but good luck! have you tried a university hospital? that might be a better rout for you. they offer services at a discounted price and have interns assisting the drs. but the care is just as good in most cases. just a thought.