tidbit
astri
includes an add-on that mandates full parity for insurance coverage of
mental health services. wow!
-- astri
======================
to email send to astri
======================
at volcano dot org
======================
jill
astri <as...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>looks like the us treasury bailout bill passed by both senate and house
>includes an add-on that mandates full parity for insurance coverage of
>mental health services. wow!
>
>-- astri
Yes, and it drops the tax for makers of wooden arrows for children!!!
*wry sarcastic grin*
Rainbow Colors (Jill)
--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The colors blend, the edges soften. Swirling and mixing
we are becoming white light.
ji...@tuells.org
confused
> looks like the us treasury bailout bill passed by both senate and
> house includes an add-on that mandates full parity for insurance
> coverage of mental health services. wow!
>
--
"wolfie" of confused
astri
> In article <Pine.BSI.4.64.08...@malasada.lava.net>,
> astri <as...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>> looks like the us treasury bailout bill passed by both senate and
>> house includes an add-on that mandates full parity for insurance
>> coverage of mental health services. wow!
>
> *wry sarcastic grin*
yes, well...
Emerging Butterfly
> looks like the us treasury bailout bill passed by both senate and house
> includes an add-on that mandates full parity for insurance coverage of
> mental health services. wow!
>
astri
> On Oct 3, 1:15 pm, astri <as...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>> looks like the us treasury bailout bill passed by both senate and
>> house includes an add-on that mandates full parity for insurance
>> coverage of mental health services. wow!
>>
> what is parity?
parity means equal.
insurance companies will be required to cover mental health at the same
levels and with the same copays and same annual and lifetime limits as
they cover physical health.
astri
> On Fri, 3 Oct 2008 09:15:05 -1000, astri <as...@invalid.invalid>
> wrote:
>
>> looks like the us treasury bailout bill passed by both senate and
>> house includes an add-on that mandates full parity for insurance
>> coverage of mental health services. wow!
>
> tv
dunno when it takes effect. haven't actually looked at the text of the
bill or seen a summary that tells that.
confused
> On Sat, 4 Oct 2008, Emerging Butterfly wrote:
>> On Oct 3, 1:15 pm, astri <as...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>> looks like the us treasury bailout bill passed by both senate and
>>> house includes an add-on that mandates full parity for insurance
>>> coverage of mental health services. wow!
>>>
>> what is parity?
>
> parity means equal.
>
> insurance companies will be required to cover mental health at the
> same levels and with the same copays and same annual and lifetime
> limits as they cover physical health.
>
a good thing
--
"wolfie" of confused
astri
yes
Juniper
astri <as...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> looks like the us treasury bailout bill passed by both senate and house
> includes an add-on that mandates full parity for insurance coverage of
> mental health services. wow!
Yeah, there's an article in the NYTimes today about it. My state
already had mental health parity, but businesses that self-insured were
exempt, and the university I work for self-insures. But the new federal
law does NOT exempt self-insured businesses, and the university has WAY
more than the 50 employee cut-off, so I'll start getting parity in
January 2010. The plan I selected already covers 40 sessions/year, but
after this goes in there should be no limit.
Juniper of the happy wallet and a covered diagnosis
Juniper
astri <as...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> On Sat, 4 Oct 2008, the valerians wrote:
> > On Fri, 3 Oct 2008 09:15:05 -1000, astri <as...@invalid.invalid>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> looks like the us treasury bailout bill passed by both senate and
> >> house includes an add-on that mandates full parity for insurance
> >> coverage of mental health services. wow!
> >
> > for real? wow. when does it take effect?
> > tv
>
> dunno when it takes effect. haven't actually looked at the text of the
> bill or seen a summary that tells that.
January 2010
Juniper
Wolfie of Confused
visits a year.
Juniper
Yeah, I got 25 sessions before this good insurance which gives 40. Once
we have parity, wheeee!
The first 10 years (at least) I was in therapy I paid it all myself.
(It's been a total of 23 years and counting.) Coverage was limited and
I didn't want anyone knowing even my diagnosis. Now I'm a bit more
relaxed. ;-)
Juniper
Nahanton
Can someone explain something about this to me? Every pdoc I've gone
to does not take insurance. Have to pay out of pocket. My T (who died
last year) did take insurance. After 3 tries, I think I've found a new
T. She's a Ph.D in psychology, and she doesn't take insurance. This
is prolly naive of me, but shouldn't pdocs and therapists have to take
insurance as they're treating ppl? Also, can I save the receipts and
try for a tax deduction? If anyone can explain this to me, I'd really
appreciate it.
Nahanton
Juniper
Nahanton <Naha...@comcast.net> wrote:
No-one has to take insurance. If your clinician doesn't take insurance,
you may be able to get reimbursed by your insurance for the service at
"out of network" rates. This is controlled by your insurance company,
not by your clinician. But your clinician will need to be licensed or
otherwise officially sanctioned for your insurance company to be willing
to reimburse you for the cost of seeing them.
If you can't get coverage out of network from your insurance, you can
certainly save receipts, but I think your medical expenses have to be at
least 10% of your gross income to make it be worthwhile itemizing your
deductions on your income tax. See, normally there's a standard
deduction that's given on your federal taxes. The standard deduction
estimates what a usual person would have in deductible expenses. To
make it worthwhile to itemize rather than taking the standard deduction,
you'd need a LOT of medical payments. Now, for one of us that might be
true, but it's on a percentage basis of one's income.
Do you use filing software when you do your taxes? I use Turbo Tax, and
it asks me all the questions and figures out if itemizing is worthwhile.
I need to itemize because I have mortgage interest to deduct. But I
take the standard medical deduction.
I also have health care reimbursement through my employer, which is
different. It's a federal program in which I put aside part of my
salary pre-tax and out of it I pay any medical expenses not covered by
insurance which would qualify as a medical deduction. Any of that
set-aside money I don't use in the relevant tax year, however, I lose to
the gov't. I set aside $3000 a year and pay for prescription co-pays,
glasses, dental work, costs of therapy beyond what my insurance covers,
(massages, hopefully), etc.
Have I made you more confused? ;-)
Juniper
Nahanton
Wow!! Thank you, Juniper. I don't understand _all_ of what you said,
but enough so that I know that I'll have to pay out of pocket. I have
a CPA who does my taxes, and I don't understand her at ALL!!! I pay
out of pocket for BC/BS and even my rx's are through the roof. I'm in
that "donut hole" and I've been paying about $400 a month for
prescriptions since landing there. The whole thing is mind-boggling to
me. It seems to me that I pay a lot for medical insurance and rx
insurance, and I still have to pay hundreds out of pocket!! Well,
maybe our new President will do something about this......<oh, yeah>
Thanks again.
Nahanton
astri
> Can someone explain something about this to me? Every pdoc I've gone
> to does not take insurance. Have to pay out of pocket. My T (who
> died last year) did take insurance. After 3 tries, I think I've
> found a new T. She's a Ph.D in psychology, and she doesn't take
> insurance. This is prolly naive of me, but shouldn't pdocs and
> therapists have to take insurance as they're treating ppl?
what that means is that they do not file with the insurance company for
you. you can take the bills they give you and file for reimbursement
from your insurance company, if they cover the service and will pay for
docs outside their network.
> Also, can I save the receipts and try for a tax deduction? If anyone
> can explain this to me, I'd really appreciate it.
medical expenses become tax deductable if they exceed 7% of your
income. believe that's taxable income, not gross income.
Puddles
how is everyone figuring this out? We get 52 visits a year but see him
104. How do you know if your benefits increase?
Juniper
Puddles <allthe...@yahoo.com> wrote:
By what your insurer will cover.
Juniper
Juniper
Nahanton <Naha...@comcast.net> wrote:
> I pay
> out of pocket for BC/BS and even my rx's are through the roof. I'm in
> that "donut hole" and I've been paying about $400 a month for
> prescriptions since landing there. The whole thing is mind-boggling to
> me. It seems to me that I pay a lot for medical insurance and rx
> insurance, and I still have to pay hundreds out of pocket!!
I would double check, since you are paying for some BCBS plan. You
might want to consider changing plans, too. I have BCBS PPO, which is
excellent, but I get it through my employer, so I don't have to pay an
arm and a leg for it.
PPO means they have a network of clinicians where I just have to pay a
copay, but I can see anyone else outside the network and just file for
reimbursement differently (maybe ending up paying a bit more, since they
usually reimburse 80% of the charge out of network), plus I don't need a
referral to see anyone or get any service.
My therp happens to be in the network (as are my primary care physician,
my psychiatrist, my endocrinologist, and my ophthalmologist), so after
my annual deductible ($250) is paid, I pay him a $20 copay every session
until I've used up my 40 sessions. Then I pay him the full $100 for
each session for the rest of the year. Once full parity comes in, I
expect I'd pay him a $20 copay for every session, no limit, no
deductible.
Juniper
Nahanton
I have Medicare and BC/BS as secondary. I called them, and by the time
they finished with me I was ready to cover my head with my blanket. I
think that these ppl make
things so difficult, that ppl just give up, which is likely what I'll
end up doing. I just got finished with a T who did take insurance and
Medicare, but told me that Medicare wouldn't pay her and asked me to
pay out of pocket. I spent days calling Medicare and found out that
they had been paying this T and gave me the dates the checks were
cashed. That was the end of her. This T told me up front that she
doesn't accept any insurance. So, if I want to see her and the pdoc,
it becomes out of pocket and that works out to be a LOT of $$$. Ah,
maybe I'll make another call. Just one more. Thanks.
Nahanton
Nahanton
I'm on Medicare and BC/BS is my secondary. I have Medex and the BC/BS
is a PPO. I used to be covered under my ex-husband's business, but he
sold the business a few years ago, so now I'm not in a group anymore
and pay for health insurance independently. All of this stuff is
fairly new to me (Medicare, independent health insurance). I used to
be able to put everything in an envelope and send it to his office and
not have to bother with anything.
Sounds like you have an excellent plan.
Nahanton
astri
> On 2008-10-08 18:11:58 -0400, astri <as...@invalid.invalid> said:
>> On Wed, 8 Oct 2008, Nahanton wrote:
>>
>>> Can someone explain something about this to me? Every pdoc I've
>>> gone to does not take insurance. Have to pay out of pocket. My T
>>> (who died last year) did take insurance. After 3 tries, I think
>>> I've found a new T. She's a Ph.D in psychology, and she doesn't
>>> take insurance. This is prolly naive of me, but shouldn't pdocs
>>> and therapists have to take insurance as they're treating ppl?
>>
>> what that means is that they do not file with the insurance company
>> for you. you can take the bills they give you and file for
>> reimbursement from your insurance company, if they cover the service
>> and will pay for docs outside their network.
>>
>>> Also, can I save the receipts and try for a tax deduction? If
>>> anyone can explain this to me, I'd really appreciate it.
>>
>> medical expenses become tax deductable if they exceed 7% of your
>> income. believe that's taxable income, not gross income.
>
> time they finished with me I was ready to cover my head with my
> blanket. I think that these ppl make things so difficult, that ppl
> just give up, which is likely what I'll end up doing. I just got
> finished with a T who did take insurance and Medicare, but told me
> that Medicare wouldn't pay her and asked me to pay out of pocket. I
> spent days calling Medicare and found out that they had been paying
> this T and gave me the dates the checks were cashed. That was the
> end of her. This T told me up front that she doesn't accept any
> insurance. So, if I want to see her and the pdoc, it becomes out of
> pocket and that works out to be a LOT of $$$. Ah, maybe I'll make
> another call. Just one more. Thanks.
sigh
Puddles
How do you find out though? i also have BCBS PPO. (l*ve it). And WOW,
your t charges big bucks! My t is a Dr. t. I am assuming yours too but
why so much? Remind me where you are/what state or part of the country?
Juniper
Puddles <allthe...@yahoo.com> wrote:
Find out what? When parity comes in? The law takes effect January 2010.
> i also have BCBS PPO. (l*ve it). And WOW,
> your t charges big bucks! My t is a Dr. t. I am assuming yours too but
> why so much? Remind me where you are/what state or part of the country?
$100 for a 50 minute hour isn't expensive around here. Matter of fact
he's kind of cheap. W. is an LICSW, in other words a social worker. If
I saw an MD or a PhD it would probably be considerably higher. My
psydoc who does my meds checks charges $80 for 20 minutes, but I pay
only a $15 copay, and it's only every 3 months or so. Huh, after parity
comes in the copays will probably be the same for therp and psydoc.
I'm in Boston, and the cost of living is very high around here. Housing
prices are sky high, and everything else matches. My tiny little
unfancy house in a so-so neighborhood cost me $119,500 10 years ago
(literally 10 -- just marked the anniversary), and I pay mega property
taxes ($3K?) on it. Just last spring I refinanced it for $170,000, but
it's worth more. Tiny, unfixed up, house.
Juniper
Puddles
I knew you were in Boston silly. Wow, they make that much with those
credentials there? hmm. your t would make around 35 an hour here (not
trying to be insultive but economy wise). but then again, we have a six
bedroom house paid 89,9 but market dropping worth about 75 now. no one
wants to live here though, s*cks here.
ok, i didn't realize that the bill doesn't kick in until 2010. wish it
was sooner.
Peppermint Patootie
Puddles <allthe...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I knew you were in Boston silly. Wow, they make that much with those
> credentials there? hmm. your t would make around 35 an hour here (not
> trying to be insultive but economy wise). but then again, we have a six
> bedroom house paid 89,9 but market dropping worth about 75 now. no one
> wants to live here though, s*cks here.
When my m*ther closed down the family house in VT and sold it, I was
shocked at the price. It's a 150 year old farmhouse, winterized, with
dual furnaces (oil and wood), five bedrooms, attached woodshed, shop,
and barn, but not renovated bathrooms or kitchen. It's got 70 acres of
fields, woods, hills, old orchard, and brooks fairly near ski country.
She sold it for $160,000, which is what my tiny little 2-bedroom house
with 7,000 sq. feet of land was assessed at in the outskirts of Boston
at the time. And that was a pretty good sale in VT. (She also sold it
to people she knew and whom she's gone back to visit with, so that makes
up for a lot. They have three kids who are home schooled, and they have
lots of animals, one or two per kid, some of which are goats and
chickens. They also let my m*ther put a line in one of the documents so
that when my m*ther d*es, we're allowed to sprinkle her ashes on the big
hill behind the house.)
> ok, i didn't realize that the bill doesn't kick in until 2010. wish it
> was sooner.
The people who work on the software at health insurance companies are
probably grateful because there will undoubtedly be massive system
upgrades they'll have to do.
Juniper
gathring
don't know about pdocs, but some therapists don't take insurance so that
they have more ability to maintain patient confidentiality. insurance
companies require much stronger documentation, generally speaking.
--
“There are two major products that came out of Berkeley: LSD and UNIX.
We don't believe this to be a coincidence.” -- Jeremy S. Anderson
Juniper
Puddles
> In article <6ladccF...@mid.individual.net>,
> Puddles <allthe...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> I knew you were in Boston silly. Wow, they make that much with those
>> credentials there? hmm. your t would make around 35 an hour here (not
>> trying to be insultive but economy wise). but then again, we have a six
>> bedroom house paid 89,9 but market dropping worth about 75 now. no one
>> wants to live here though, s*cks here.
>
> When my m*ther closed down the family house in VT and sold it, I was
> shocked at the price.
did you think that was too much or too little? I am assuming you thought
too little. That is about what it would go for here but without being
near ski country.
being from California, I know the shock value of pricing homes. My big
family would never be able to afford a six bedroom home in cali. maybe,
dunno. wouldn't have lots of property though.
It's a 150 year old farmhouse, winterized, with
> dual furnaces (oil and wood), five bedrooms, attached woodshed, shop,
> and barn, but not renovated bathrooms or kitchen. It's got 70 acres of
> fields, woods, hills, old orchard, and brooks fairly near ski country.
> She sold it for $160,000, which is what my tiny little 2-bedroom house
> with 7,000 sq. feet of land was assessed at in the outskirts of Boston
> at the time. And that was a pretty good sale in VT. (She also sold it
> to people she knew and whom she's gone back to visit with, so that makes
> up for a lot. They have three kids who are home schooled, and they have
> lots of animals, one or two per kid, some of which are goats and
> chickens. They also let my m*ther put a line in one of the documents so
> that when my m*ther d*es, we're allowed to sprinkle her ashes on the big
> hill behind the house.)
>
>> ok, i didn't realize that the bill doesn't kick in until 2010. wish it
>> was sooner.
>
> The people who work on the software at health insurance companies are
> probably grateful because there will undoubtedly be massive system
> upgrades they'll have to do.
>
> Juniper
ug, the insurance companies are terrible with their billing practices
anyways. hope they actually hire more than 1 person to answer calls from
the entire nation when the upgrade happens.
jill
They also get to keep control over what they bill. If they sign a
contract with insurance that is an hmo, the hmo will often get to tell
them what to charge. If a person can't afford the co-pay, tough. If
they stay clear of all of that they can do sliding scale if they want
to.
There are lots of reasons for a t'pist to stay away from dealing with
insurance companies!
Rainbow Colors (Jill)
--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The colors blend, the edges soften. Swirling and mixing
we are becoming white light.
ji...@tuells.org