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When I hear people talking about mental health and gun control in the same breath I often wonder how far they are willing to go. Considering that so many people have been on or on prescriptions for depression and anxiety, the number of people who could potentially be banned from ever owning firearms due to a history of these types of things is huge. Someone could have been on medication for depression for a few months for example and that could be enough to disallow them from owning guns. That is a huge subset of the population.
You can't lose your gun rights unless you are committed for being gravely disabled and incapable of caring for yourself, or if you are diagnosed as being an immediate danger to yourself or others and even that, California and I'm sure most other states have a process where a judge can review the situation and reinstate your gun rights. NO prescriptions or treatment without a formal court commitment is reported to DOJ.
You can't lose your gun rights unless you are committed for being gravely disabled and incapable of caring for yourself, or if you are diagnosed as being an immediate danger to yourself or others and even that, California and I'm sure most other states have a process where a judge can review the situation and reinstate your gun rights. NO prescriptions or treatment without a formal court commitment is reported to DOJ.
Not at present, anyway.
And actually, if you think your medical records are kept private from government perusal, just contract Ebola or tuberculosis or any other number of conditions that are required to be reported to government agencies - along with WHO has this particular disease.
So it's not a stretch at all to envision the federal government or state governments to be able to access medical records of anyone who receives mental healthcare.
In fact, isn't that a large outcry from many people already? I hear it all the time. "How was that person allowed to own a gun or live in a house with access to guns? Shouldn't that be against the law? Shouldn't the law have been able to step in to prevent this?"
However, what I'm wondering is WHY everything else in my policy increased in price, and yet I can get mental healthcare for free? Why would mental healthcare be free when getting a flu shot or getting an antibiotic for a sinus infection is going to cost me? Don't you think that's a little bit weird? So I'm looking for a reason WHY.
If you remove barriers (such as copays, coinsurance, deductibles, etc) from people, they are more likely to take advantage of a benefit. In this case, that benefit is mental health care. Now - I'm not saying that people who really need mental healthcare shouldn't seek it, but I AM wondering what makes that particular healthcare issue "more special" than, say, a trip to the doctor for a refill on a blood pressure prescription. Why is it so much easier and less costly to go get you some mental health care? And probably a prescription - most people want to feel better, right? Then you've got documentation of a mental healthcare issue, and maybe even a prescription for one of the many over-prescribed drugs for depression or other moods, and VOILA - you've got a documented mental health issue and suddenly no one in your family is allowed to have a gun anywhere around you.
You don't have to declare everyone mentally incompetent - just one person in a household would be sufficient to disarm a lot of households.
I'm not saying this is the crux of the clause - but considering my family's experience with mental health issues, it gave me pause for thought. For instance, when my brother comes to visit us, whoever is "checking him out" (he's in a program but lives independently), we have to sign papers stating that we will not allow him any access to any guns. This is just for a visit. He has never been convicted of a violent crime by the way, but was involuntarily committed by family members.
I'm a mental health professional, and I can tell you that your privacy is not what you think it is anymore. Back in the good old days, BCBS (or whoever) would just grant 20 therapy sessions at the agree-upon reimbursement rate, no questions asked. If you needed more, you had to plead your case.
Now, most companies require us to complete treatment plans. Not just simple "check a box" and give us a diagnosis, but intrusive questions about your symptoms, your support system, your adherence to treatment, your motivation, and if you're not seeing a psychiatrist to prescribe meds, you'd better be able to justify it! They want measurable and observable goals that clearly indicate when treatment is no longer medically necessary. These things can take hours to complete to their satisfaction. If the doc skimps on details (as I always try to do to protect privacy), the sessions may not be granted. Patients are generally not aware of this.
And in case you aren't paranoid yet, I took my daughter to the pediatrician for her Annual Checkup on 10/9 and, for the first time ever, was asked if she is exposed to cigarette smoke. The pediatrician rolled his eyes when I asked and indicated that this was a new requirement as part of coding the bill that gets sent to the insurance company (as part of new ICD-10 requirements). If they don't ask, they don't get paid. I guarantee that the question about guns in the house will be coming down the pike shortly.
Sorry to burst anyone's bubble, but if you can afford NOT to use your insurance for mental health reasons, by all means, you should do so.
I'm a mental health professional, and I can tell you that your privacy is not what you think it is anymore. Back in the good old days, BCBS (or whoever) would just grant 20 therapy sessions at the agree-upon reimbursement rate, no questions asked. If you needed more, you had to plead your case.
Now, most companies require us to complete treatment plans. Not just simple "check a box" and give us a diagnosis, but intrusive questions about your symptoms, your support system, your adherence to treatment, your motivation, and if you're not seeing a psychiatrist to prescribe meds, you'd better be able to justify it! They want measurable and observable goals that clearly indicate when treatment is no longer medically necessary. These things can take hours to complete to their satisfaction. If the doc skimps on details (as I always try to do to protect privacy), the sessions may not be granted. Patients are generally not aware of this.
And in case you aren't paranoid yet, I took my daughter to the pediatrician for her Annual Checkup on 10/9 and, for the first time ever, was asked if she is exposed to cigarette smoke. The pediatrician rolled his eyes when I asked and indicated that this was a new requirement as part of coding the bill that gets sent to the insurance company (as part of new ICD-10 requirements). If they don't ask, they don't get paid. I guarantee that the question about guns in the house will be coming down the pike shortly.
Sorry to burst anyone's bubble, but if you can afford NOT to use your insurance for mental health reasons, by all means, you should do so.
Thanks for this perspective.
That being said, whether or not the insurance company is involved, I would encourage people to contemplate the possibility that NONE of their medical records are "private" when it comes to intrusion by the government.
You're very right about the intrusive questions that are now required by many institutions as well. My husband, who outweighs me by at least 50 pounds and who is definitely an Alpha male and looks like a lumberjack or a Viking, was asked by our PCP if he was ever abused or felt unsafe at home! It was a required question! She asked me the same thing and when I told my husband that she was going to ask him as well, he didn't believe me - till it happened.
We were also asked about whether or not any guns we own are kept locked up. We don't have kids at home by the way.
Our answer was "yes," because we are responsible gun owners and we have grandchildren who visit often. But still...why is our PCP having to ask us that, and who gets the information if we say "no," or if we refuse to answer the question?
EXCEPT FOR ONE AREA - MENTAL HEALTH. And here's where things get interesting. You know what we have to pay for an office visit in network to a mental healthcare professional? Zero dollars. Zero. Everything else, we pay out the wazoo. Mental healthcare - we catch a major break. Need to get some mental healthcare? Go for free!
What is your copay for a visit to your regular family physician? Because if there is no charge then this might be the reason there is no copay for office visits to mental health practitioners: http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/parity-guide.aspx If not, I'd love to know the specific name of your plan because it's odd that they would have a co-pay for everything except mental health services
Our answer was "yes," because we are responsible gun owners and we have grandchildren who visit often. But still...why is our PCP having to ask us that, and who gets the information if we say "no," or if we refuse to answer the question?
Good question and I'd love to know the answer. I've gotten out of the therapy business for the most part due to all the intrusions, red tape, and general BS that I had to deal with in order to, you know, actually help people! Sadly, that leaves me only able to deal with those who can self-pay. But the system leaves no choice; jump through more and more hoops for less and less pay and struggle to meet your overhead.
You can't lose your gun rights unless you are committed for being gravely disabled and incapable of caring for yourself, or if you are diagnosed as being an immediate danger to yourself or others and even that, California and I'm sure most other states have a process where a judge can review the situation and reinstate your gun rights. NO prescriptions or treatment without a formal court commitment is reported to DOJ.
Right, that may be the case now but after every mass shooting the conversations starts up again in regards to not allowing people with mental illness to own guns. No one ever bothers to define mental illness and in many cases the shooter only had a history of depression so it seems plausible that the loss of gun rights could be applied broadly to anyone who has had any mental illness" in the future.
Have you read your BCBS policy for 2016? My BCBS policy from 2015 didn't offer zero copays for mental health either - this is a new part of the new plan.
By the way, Anthem, which is the parent company of BCBS, is the largest health insurance company in the nation.
So no, it's not just "me" that's affected. We don't have some sort of weird, random, "special" insurance plan that's offered to just a handful of people - it's a very, very common plan offered by the largest insurance company in the United States.
This is directly from my new policy. I have a 40% co-pay for mental health care visits. My medical co-pays for my GP, chiropractor, GYN etc is $25.00, so much less than for mental health:
What is your copay for a visit to your regular family physician? Because if there is no charge then this might be the reason there is no copay for office visits to mental health practitioners: http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/parity-guide.aspx If not, I'd love to know the specific name of your plan because it's odd that they would have a co-pay for everything except mental health services
As of 2016, we will have to pay out of pocket in full till our deductible is reached for ALL other medical office visits. Currently I believe our copay is $40. That's all we generally pay for an office visit and we pay out of pocket for any required tests or that sort of thing, outside of preventive care.
It's no secret what our plan is and it's not some uncommon weird one either - it's the 2016 BCBS of Texas Blue Advantage Plus Bronze 104 plan, whatever all that means. I am holding the letter in my hand at this very moment and I will quote from it exactly:
"In 2016, your in network primary care office visit pre-deductible copayments will change to coinsurance, after paying the deductible....a deductible is the amount you must pay before the health plan starts paying for most qualified covered services."
"Your in network co insurance will change from 20 percent to 30 percent. It applies AFTER YOU MEET YOUR DEDUCTIBLE."
(Our deductible is $5000 each.)
"Your coinsurance for prescriptions applies after medical deductible is met."
"In 2016 your copay for in network mental illness office visits will be $0. Your copayment is a fixed amount you are required to pay for covered services at the time you receive care."
Last edited by KathrynAragon; 10-28-2015 at 02:16 PM..
This is directly from my new policy. I have a 40% co-pay for mental health care visits. My medical co-pays for my GP, chiropractor, GYN etc is $25.00, so much less than for mental health:
Health Benefits Plan Coverage
TypePlan TypeCoveragePrior AuthorizationMessage CoinsuranceAdvantage Epo(Individual) 40% Per VisitNo
That's nice - lucky you, I guess.
(By the way, I can't access that page from the link because I'm not a member and am not going to register for insurance in the state of New Jersey.)
That's nothing like our plan, which I am quoting from directly in the post above. At $1137 a month, and a $5000 deductible each, our copays have been removed and replaced with "coinsurance" which means that we pay for everything (other than some basic preventive care) up front till we meet our deductible. EXCEPT for mental health care in network office visits - those are free.
Good - I'm going to need to access that.
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