If you can't figure it out, how is she supposed to?

Apparently, juggling and discerning copays, deductibles, and in/out-of-network coverage isn’t only something that you and I as adults should be able to make sense of: kids are trying to figure it out themselves, as well.

Teen Vogue put out this article in the spring of ’21 walking it’s readers through the basics of navigating their parents’ healthcare coverage plans, in order to find themselves a psychotherapist. (It’s the most comprehensive instruction guide I’ve seen, and I may pass it on to any adults I encounter who are struggling to understand their own “benefits.”)

Kudos and props to Teen Vogue for encouraging kids (or anyone) to seek out health support! Lots and lots of kids know they need help but don’t have the relationship with their parents that will allow them to ask for it.

It’s obviously absurd that we are asking adolescents to understand the insurance system that so many adults have trouble navigating. But what needs to be more emphasized is how insurance being involved at all is what makes healthcare service cost rise in the first place.  Insurance companies are built to make a profit, not serve a patient. Much of the cost of health insurance today is never seen by the doctors or practitioners you are going to and trusting with your care- they are filling the pockets of the insurance company, and because of that the cost goes way up in order to pay the practitioner fairly in the first place.The insurance company keeps %30-40 of the session fee in order to keep the insurance company profitable. And your therapist makes much less.

Imagine if… *the middle man was cut out and you could pay less for your therapy *your therapist was paid for that the service as soon as s/he provided it to you, because you paid it directly at the time you worked together (as opposed to hours of submitting and re-submitting claims, many of which are never fulfilled by insurance companies whose business it is to make money, not pay out money) *you got to decide how long you went to therapy *you didn’t have to ask permission from someone who has never met you or heard about your situation, and has only seen a code associated with what you’ve described to your therapist as what you are coming to therapy for *YOU got to decide how many therapy sessions you wanted

Let’s also acknowledge that, according to Oxford Languages, the word “insurance” by definition is that it “provides a guarantee of compensation” – do you know of anyone for whom medical bills were compensated without argument or haggle?

This is all possible when you cut out the middle man.

Here are several other ways you can access affordable therapy without insurance, if you have been letting a desire to use your insurance get in the way of finding a therapist:

•University Counseling Centers have therapists-in-training that need to work with clients in order to develop their skills and graduate. They will be working under the supervision of seasoned, experienced clinicians, so you will be in new hands, but overlooked by experts who have been treating patients for decades. They need you!

•Google “sliding scale therapy <your city>” to find places where counselors and therapists working towards full-licensure (like J.D. and Turk were on Scrubs) are able to provide services at 1/2 the standard cost or less.

•If you have a counselor or therapist who you’d like to work with, but you know their weekly fee is out of your budget, ask them if they have any reduced-rate slots available. Many clinicians budget a small number of reduced rate sessions each week, in order to make sure therapy is accessible. Without insurance.

•TherapyDen.com is the country’s best therapist search engine, featuring search criteria including where you are, therapists’ specialties, online or in-person preference, and if you’d like, gender, ethnicity and faith-related criteria.

Don’t let the clusterfuck that is Healthcare in the U.S. keep you from receiving quality healthcare.