The Annual January Stress

It's that time of year again. New health insurance. My husband's company likes to try a new plan each and every year. Sometimes I don't blame them if the plan from the year before was wretched (like last year's plan), but what it means for me is that each and every January for the past several years, I have had to scramble to find a new psychiatrist.

So here we go again. It's not easy to find a psychiatrist in this town, let me tell ya! Not easy to find one anywhere, really. So it's the endless rounds of phone calls, leaving messages, etc.

And if I'm lucky, after making a couple of dozen calls, I might find someone in-network who is taking new patients and who sees teenagers.

Continuity of care is not a high priority for our current health care system, which is most definitely catch-as-catch-can.

And this year's plan is the sort where you have to get pre-authorization for mental health treatments. I'm always afraid with that, that they will cut us off.

I want to crawl in a hole and cry. Not really about the insurance stuff...that's just icing on the whole mental health cake. No, actually, about all the stuff that is the reason we need this sort of medical care in the first place. The unbloggables.

Pray for me.

Comments

amy said…
I'm praying for you † I hope this year will bring a reprieve and blessings you can't even fathom right now.



That's a lovely photo of your family, by the way!
Matushka Anna said…
I'm praying, Alana. I hope this transition goes smoothly.
elizabeth said…
Hugs and prayers. That is hard. and the unbloggables are always hard. Deep breath... I will pray for you. HUGS and more HUGS.
Alana said…
Glory to God! I have an appointment made for a new psychiatrist who is in-network, and the secretary I spoke with on the phone was very kind, helpful and competent. Last year's receptionist was surly and less than helpful. We are still working on getting money back from last year's clinic that they made us over-pay. (They made us pay in advance and then they collected from insurance and did not refund our money.) What a burden of stress is off my shoulders!
Laura said…
I'm glad it seems to be working out better this time. We will keep praying for you!
Anonymous said…
Shall we all pray together in this?

What I hate most of all is that it is very, very difficult to get my husband to support us on seeing mental health care practitioners to begin with, and the bill-paying is the icing on the cake.

Fortunately, when our son is 'sick' enough, he usually recognizes he needs therapy, but until he is wanting to kill himself, or the voices are too noisy, or the ambulance arrives in a timely manner, he tends to deny that preventative measures are necessary for his (and our) health.