1st today

I'd like to get a little political here, first thing in the morning, before I get into anything else.

I read something in the news that I found quite bothersome. It isn't about who you should vote for or why, that's your business, you have your reasons.

Mental health legislation. Yeah. Mental health concerns Sooo many on this board. First of all, it's really difficult to approve anything new or radical. However, this was only to expand upon something that was put into place back in 1996. This would prevent them from setting lower lifetime limits on mental health than for physical illness. This piece of legislation would treat both the same. Equal treatment for deductables, co-pays, and limits.

It should be this way! They are worried about costs, but spent 13 million to lobby against it. The annual increase in cost would only be 1% higher than usual. I feel that these costs have already been offset by improved preventative care that most insurance offers.

It just ticks me off. So many people with anorexia, bullimia, bipolar, psychosis, and so on, have to leave treatment because their plans only offer X number of days, or a limit of X number of visit or dollars. As if you can treat all mental illnesses in X number of visits?

I know that my plan has better mental health coverage than most. If I didn't have a diagnosed SMI (serious mentla illness) I would have a 30 visit limit, and pay 20% of each visit. Which would be less than what I pay now, but I don't have a limit on the number of visits I can have with my providers. When diagnosed with an SMI, they usualy treat it as "any other physical illness" and give you benefits for it.

HOwever....just becuase someone isn't given a diagnosis of SMI, that doesn't mean they shouldn't be given benefits.

Grrrr. Apparently, they feel that people will use it frivolously. Yeah...that's right....let's all go have fun with a psychiatrist today!! WHoooo hooo! I just love Cognitive Behavioral Therapy! Can I get that with a side of psychoanalysis???

It costs a lot more to let something go untreated than it does to treat it.

So let all your crazies out...apparently they aren't ill enough to warrant more affordable treatment.

I'll step off my desk now...enough ranting.

-Perfectbone

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