Hello my friends. I appreciate you for caring and reading this. I need help finding care that is available and affordable without insurance. I cannot afford care any longer. And my teenage daughter has been doing therapy twice a week plus psych doc for her meds. My wife needs psych appointments for her meds too.
I have been getting help from a psychiatrist and therapist, both of whom are a huge help to my mental health. I am bipolar and have suffered depression and troubles with my mental health since I was a young child.
I just found out yesterday that my job is being eliminated and I work my last day next week. This itself is stressful and I am scared it may become a trigger of an episode and deep depression. But the most troubling part is losing my health insurance. Without my insurance, I am unable to utilize DoctorOnDemand - a mobile app that under my current insurance costs me nothing for virtual appointments. Now I cannot afford to pay for the visits and will lose my therapist and psych doc. Therapy is well over $100 per session if I don’t have insurance.
I do have some money in my flexible spending account but this must be spent by the end of Feb. Does anyone have any info for an affordable or free mental health service/app subscription? I could pay for an annual subscription with the FSA money but I would need to do so soon. I also need my multiple psych meds without insurance. So if anyone knows of a program or suggestion for getting affordable meds, please do share. Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated!
It sounds like you’ve facing a lot right now. The only thing that comes to my mind at the moment is “Better Help.” My understanding is that they do their best to make their services affordable, and may even offer some of it for free. Here’s the link: https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/therapy/
You may also find some publicly funded mental health services in your area. Your current doctor may be able to help with a referral.
Would your current employer consider helping you find employment elsewhere?
First of all, welcome back to HeartSupport! It’s been a while.,
I’ll start my reply by making acknowledgment to your courage. It takes a lot to ask for help, especially during tough times. It’s beautiful to witness the dedication you have to ensuring you and your family get the right support needed to thrive. This shows your strength and resilience.
I’m sorry to hear about the difficult circumstances you face. Loosing a job, especially one that protects you with crucial health insurance can certainly feel overwhelming, and rock the stability in your life a bit. Uncertainty and anxiety about the future is perfectly understandable, especially when it concerns critical mental health care. I want you to know that you are by no means alone in this journey, There are lots of resources and options available to you and your family. @Wings suggested BetterHelp - I’d strongly recommend this too!
In terms of accessing affordable medication, I encourage you to inquire about patient assistance programs offered by pharmaceutical companies. These programs are designed to provide medication at reduced costs or even free of charge to individuals who meet certain eligibility criteria. Your healthcare provider or pharmacist may be able to assist you in navigating these programs and finding the best solution for your needs.
You’ve done the right thing by reaching out here. Communities like HeartSupport are of great benefit when you are struggling. Sometimes connecting with others going through similar to you helps a lot.
I really appreciate the care, suggestions and replies @EvilGenius@Wings . I will keep looking into the, but if anyone else has more to add or suggest, I am all ears!
I really wish I could give more suggestions, but I live in another country with other ways of funding. And I would be hesitant to suggest something that I only know from Google without having personal or shared experience with it.
I don’t know if it is a possibility to request a recipe for a longer period of time? Maybe it will help you to bridge the time until you have a new job.
I know losing your job and your mental help can be a very scary thought. I hope that with some of the ideas of @Wings and @EvilGenius you can somehow arrange mental health care for yourself and your family members.
One thing that came to mind is maybe you could benefit from a relapse prevention plan. In this you can write out what happens when you are in different phases of an episode, like neutral phase, light, moderate or severe phase. You can write down what you yourself will notice in your behaviour and outlook, what others will notice and what you can do and what others can do. I think if you google it you would find different versions of such relapse prevention plans and see which version would suit your own situation the best.
I am rooting for you, you matter!
Thank you so much @leapyeargirl for the kind words and the suggestions. Actually I was recently working on such a plan with my therapist. I have some worksheets that help me to map out the signs so I can somewhat forecast or at least know where I am with my swings and episodes.
I am doing my best to control what I can one day at a time.
It’s wonderful that you are taking care of your wife and daughter. I’m sorry for losing your job due to having bipolar disorder. Also, I struggled with bipolar disorder too. Last year, I was fired at my job due to my depression episode. I totally relate your post a lot. If I lost my job, I would be devastated and stress too. I was too anxious about not being able to see my therapist and psychiatrist due to no health insurance.
I totally agreed with @Wings to see BetterHelp and @EvilGenius. You can also search community mental health centers too. There are ton of community mental health centers that accept you with no health insurance. The community mental health center should have mental therapist and psychiatrist. In addition, the co-pay is affordable for me to pay. Last year, I remembered I only had to pay $35 to see my therapist and $50 for my psychiatrist. This is cost without my health insurance.
My cousin is pharmacist, he recommend his patients to use GoodRx to get discount for medication. If you can’t afford the medication, my psychiatrist always tell me to call them immediately. They will find a cheap price for medication that is affordable.
Today, I’m still attending community health centers for therapy and psychiatrist. They made huge impact in my life. I was able to find a job to work last year on August.I had was luck to find another community health center that was better than the other place I went last year. Right now, I only pay $0 to see my mental therapist, psychiatrist, and medication with health insurance.
I hope this advice will truly help you with mental health care. I’m super proud of you not giving up to fight against your mental disorder. You can do this!
