Insurance woes

[mel]

I am in kind of a weird situation and debating what to do. I work as a nurse for my insurance provider. It's KP so everything is done in house- internal medicine, all the specialties, and behavioral health. Your office where you get your care is assigned based off of your address. Well I live 5 minutes from work so my assigned office is my job. So I work where I get my care even though it's a completely separate area (this office has a stand alone ER - that's where I work). I feel extremely uncomfortable seeing a psychiatrist in that office due to the fact that I know everyone/have no real privacy. I mean I know they can't access my chart but the registration people can and the waiting area for BH is separate but highly visible. I've asked to be allowed to see a psychiatrist at another office but was told that I needed to stay within my assigned facility. I went ahead and made an appointment but the closer it gets the more anxiety-provoking it is. I just can't do it. I'm already paying out of pocket for my therapist that's not covered by my insurance and I'm seeing her twice a week now because I haven't been doing well so that's $150/wk for therapy. I really don't want to pay out of pocket to see an outside psychiatrist too and I really can't afford it. I just paid off my credit card debt and do not want to get back into it.

I'm wondering if I should consider looking into purchasing an individual policy outside of my employer policy so that I can see someone else or if it would be better to just suck it up and pay out of pocket for both the therapist and the psychiatrist.

Wwyd?

Eta: I have considered skipping the psychiatrist altogether and just using the therapist but I don't think for me therapy is enough.

[phoenixrising]

Is your PCP willing to prescribe meds with the input of your therapist? That is what I do.

[sigir]

I work in healthcare, and I have found that people is situations like this often are very respectful bc they are all in the same boat and if goes both ways. Also, they understand hipaa and take it seriously (unless they are an asshole). Do you think your fear is realistic, or more in your head? Have you talked w your therapist to work it through?

One of the things I learned in cognitive therapy is the "what's the worst that can happen" game. Keep asking yourself what is the worst thing that can happen of your coworkers see you at the psych. Some things that might happen are that ignorant people may judge you, true. But some people who have or are struggling may have a new respect for you, for taking care of yourself. So what is the worst that can happen?

It may not be so bad, and it probably is better than going back into cc debt. What do you think?

[sigir]

Just wanted to add, I don't mean to say your fears are not real or anything, did not want to offend! I can totally understand why you feel that way. It's tough.

[mel]

My PCP won't prescribe psych meds because that's done by behavioral health since they are all within the same office. It's kaiser. They do it weird and I have issues with that being our only option for health insurance seeing as that's also our employer.

sigir I know that no one would go into my chart but it's still just very uncomfortable. I've tried it several times and each time it's just unbearable. I know that if I stay at that office then I will not be compliant with my treatment. I also have to get my prescriptions filled at the pharmacy in the building so it's quite a process. It's not just sitting in the waiting room. It's people that I work with - registration that checks you in, the nurses in BH that check vitals, the pharmacists and pharm techs that fill my meds, lab when I need labs done, etc are all in my chart at various times and can see everything. And I work with these people.

[phoenixrising]

Well, I agree that meds are an important part, so if I were in your situation, I would pay OOP. You would not have to see the psychiatrist often once your new regimen were established.

[kirra]

Mental Illness is NOT something to be ashamed of.

Getting help IS something to be proud of.

Have you talked to your therapist about this? He or she should be willing and able to talk through this with you and help you figure out how much is your anxiety, how much is a rational concern, what the ideal resolution is, and what resolution you can live with. He or she can't tell you what the right decision is, but part of therapy is working through the decision making process.

[pinkdutchtulips]

DD has KP too and we can pick ANY KP office we want. I have never heard of KP assigning members an office and that's THE OFFICE they have to go to.

in you're situation, I'd pick a different KP office.

eta - as long as its in the same region, yes any KP office. I'm in the process of figuring out which one to select dd's pedi from (we just switched back to KP) and its either her old KP pedi who's at office A or find a new one at office B - both offices are w/in 15 mins of me.

[mel]

Maybe the "home office" thing is regional? That's just what I was told last time I asked the BH nurse if I could switch offices. I'll have to call member services to ask I guess. I would be okay going to a different office.

My therapist gave me some suggestions on how to handle it (try to get the first appointment of the day, take my prescriptions to an outside pharmacy, check in with the same registration person, etc) and she gave me the names of a few psychiatrists that she recommends if I choose to pay out of pocket.

[Deleted]

Honestly, I'd be worried too. I like my privacy. Especially to feel safe about opening up to a therapist. Sorry I don't have any other ideas but I do understand! (Maybe you should move? <--kidding)

[flex]

My opinion is that at times, if an issue is serious enough, other people's opinions/views be damned. I need to take care of me at any cost.