The Cons Of Using Insurance For Mental Health Care
The main purpose for applying for insurance is to claim for compensation if there is a loss or damage. Other insurance policies are quite simple to apply and to later claim for compensation. But in case of medical insurance, the categories are many. People with diabetes, cancer, thyroid, fracture, etc can easily claim for insurance compared to those with mental health care problems. You can claim for such mental disorders only if your psychologist gives a complete report on the diagnosis. If not, the insurance company will not be ready pay for the treatment.
A law was passed in this view pressing on the fact that health insurance companies must treat all the disorders equally be it physical or mental. This was not appreciated by all the health insurance companies and still the reimbursements are low for mental disorders compared to physical ones. Therefore the person is compelled to forgo expensive treatments for their illness. This in turn creates a stressful effect on the patient which majorly violates the purpose entirely.
A major disadvantage in this context is the loss of privacy. Imagine you are claiming insurance for treatment session with a dentist for treating cavity problem versus with that of a psychiatrist for treating depression due to love failure. In case of the dentist, you will clearly get the amount from the Insurance Company. It is enough if the dentist specifies treatment for cavity in the claim. However the treatment with the Psychiatrist is complicated and cannot be expressed in few words. It needs clear diagnosis regarding your behavior during the session and the level of your depression after the love failure. You might have wanted this conversation confidential between you and your therapist. But involving an Insurance claim for the same would reflect a great deal on your personal and official life. Confidentiality is thus lost by the interference of the Insurance Company.
Another disadvantage in this context is that people with physical ailments can be completely cured with few treatment sessions compared to those with mental ailments. People with mental disorders need to consult their therapist frequently like monthly or weekly sessions. It is quite natural since periodical assessment is necessary for treating mental illnesses. But the Insurance companies do not encourage such claims. They tend to place limitations on the number of treatment sessions with the therapist. Also they may insist for a pre-approval from the doctor regarding the mental illness.
Nevertheless, some Insurance companies have a set of registered physicians who work for the company and help in getting immediate compensation for their patients. But the proportion of such companies is less compared to proportion of people with the mental illness. Also it is not necessary that the person consults only the registered physician.
On the whole, there are many disadvantages in applying insurance for mental disorders since most insurance companies ponder into the treatments, greatly revealing the behavioral attitude of a person. You might as well think of cancelling your policy since the compensation will not meet serious and long-standing problems.