I can be guilty of being a skeptic. Always been overly analytical – maybe to a fault….but being directed to take 50+ psychotropic drugs in 2.5 yrs, as none of them showed any signs of improvement, cemented my skepticism in the MH space. Are ppl/orgs motivated more by $, than getting folks healthy?
Enter the email my cousin received yesterday from a MAJOR insurer that covers him/his fam (shared in stories). Again, many things “look” well-meaning & altruistic. What’s beneath the surface?
At first glance the email seems great. As someone covered by this company, he now has access to an “online tool to keep MH top of mind.” We want MH to be top of mind!
But go on to read the details – this free tool, allows you to 1) do a self-assessment in 7min, 2) see from a list of disorders where you fit, 3) use their online partner/tools to “find support” arnd those labels.
So I dug deeper, & these tools (plural), are nothing more than an online CBT platform. CBT can be great. But let me ask this: if you were trying to lose weight, would you want access to an app that tells everyone abt the tools to do so – using a – single RUNNING program, for everyone?
Alright so add it all up, it’s free, it’s online & simple, it gives you tools to manage your own diagnosis you were just given by taking a 7min evaluation. What’s in it for the insurer?:
You don’t go to docs for your MH. You don’t go for therapy. You don’t find other treatment modalities. Essentially THEY don’t have to pay out reimbursement (no matter what they claim is/isn’t covered by parody laws). They don’t want you going to docs & submitting.
As one integrative doc told me: “They tell the physicians that joining the network places them into an exclusive club where a large quantity of patients will be referred to them… however, bc of ‘restrictions,’ they don’t allow the physicians in, to be listed…Now you have 1 doctor seeing 1000 patients!”
These companies already make it hard for us to find providers who take our plan & now they want us to learn abt, & get MH help, exclusively online? Ask your employer for REAL MH benefits! We have to change this model.