Posted by Jakeman on January 21, 2005, at 20:50:39
In reply to Psychiatrists (and others) please read, posted by Jakeman on January 20, 2005, at 23:54:03
Hey thanks SO much for all the support and advice. You guys are great. I completely sympathize with all of you who try to get real help and run into problems like I have.
I want to fill in the facts a bit. My insurer limits visits to psychotherapists to 20 per year. I am seeing both a therapist and the psychiatrist. I thought the psychiatrist was billing me for medication management only. But in fact he was billing me also for indivdual psychotherapy. So the insurance company was counting both the psychiatrics visits and therapist visits against the 20 per year limit. (I had been carefully monitored my the psychotherpists sessions so I would stay under 20).
Because I went over the 20 visit limit for psychotherapy (due to the improper coding by the pdoc) I now owe my psychotherapist $480 and the pdoc $150. I have no problem refusing to pay the psychiatrist and clueing in the insurance company if necessary. But my therapist was not at fault in this mess and I owe him $480.
Now just to vent a bit. I feel the pdoc is more concerned about money than his patients. He is always is a hurry and patients are backed up waiting to see him. My impression is that is case load is too big and he is running a patient mill so to speak.
I didn't realize at all the time issue until yesterday. (I was never offered a receipt until I asked for it yesterday). Now I know, that when I walk into his office the clock starts running, much like a taxi meter. If you stay under 20 minutes the charge is $90. If you go over that, say 30 minutes, the charge jumps to $150. Maybe somehow its necessary, but I find this detailed attention to minutes and fees a bit in conflict to the doctor's responsibity for dealiing with our suffering.
I am probably going to just stop going to a psychiatrist for help with medications. One reason is that I have no way I finding a good one. I can ask around, but that is iffy too...I don't want everyone to know I've got mental problems. My primary care doctor will write these kind of presciptions and insurance will pay it with so hassle as an office visit so that is an option.
Another option is to just forget about doctors. For a while I had no insurance and little money. I ordered all my meds from pharmacies in the US and overseas. I never had a problem getting them and I didn't have to pay outrageous fees from psychiatrists.
By the way, I wonder if any psychiatrics read this forum?
Jake
poster:Jakeman
thread:445031
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050119/msgs/445456.html