Equal Coverage For Mental Health?

Putting my political commentator's hat on for a moment:

Sadly, Congress is losing its two Republican titans of mental health parity in Sen. Domenici (who, sadly, has a form of dementia and is being forced to retire for his own brain health reasons) and Rep. Jim Ramstad of Minnesota. While Democrats may well control both Congress and the White House after 2008, IMHO this doesn't bode well for BIPARTISAN support for this vital cause.

There are MANY practices of insurance companies/H>MOs that needed overhauling, mental health coverage among them! When I found out eleven years ago that my husband had been/was being unfaithful, I discovered first-hand how discriminatory they can be. At the insistence of my older sister who is a registered nurse of thirty years standing, I went to my OBGYN be tested for any and all possible sexually transmitted diseases. Also at her recommendation, I had the test for HIV done at the public Health Department where my insurance company would neither have to pay nor be aware of the test because my sis told me my insurance co. would "flag" my records as risky simply because I was evidently living a lifestyle that put me in fear of contracting that deadly virus and that would compromise my standing with them!! It was a most humiliating experience; I'd never felt quite so "dirty" in my life! Fortunately for me, all of the results were negative, so I didn't have to endure any further humiliation either at my doc's office or the health department, but it made me much more cognizant of the underhandedness of the insurance industry in terms of certain kinds of tests/treatments. I also discovered in 2004 when I was filing my disability claim with social security as was required by my independent long-term disability ins. co that mental illnesses are often flagged by THOSE beaurocrats as well! In spite of my psychiatrist's written verification that my illnesses made me equally unable to work as my newly-acquired paralysis and frontal lobe brain damage, I had to jump thrugh many hoops before I( was finally approved by "my" Social Security case manager. Keep in mind that I had worked for thirty plus years paying INTO the system without them being concerned as to my mental state; it was an entirely different ball game when it came to being "certified" as disabled and thereby eligible! Health care in our country is,IMHO, in terrible shape. (talk about mental illness.. the entire system is in need of some serious theraphy!) I'm going to exercise my right/responsibility as a registered voter to contact my senator and state my position on the Mental health Act and encourage everyone else to do likewise. While my paralysis is indeed limiting and difficult, my mental/spiritual/emotional issues are even MORE crippling, and more than deserving of equal consideration/rexvompensation!

What a sore spot? First you have to deal with your own family & friends trying to understand what your dealing with when you have a mental illness, then you have to fight your way the insurance co. h*ll, and then still get denied. I was denied short-term disability for my depression twice. It wasn't until I spent 3 weeks in an outpatient program at the mental health facility that I was paid. Moreover, that was only for the time they considered me "hospitalized". I had worked for the same LARGE & well-known company for 23 years. For 20 years, I was an exemplary employee (at least according to my bi-annual reviews with bosses.) I figure I must have been doing a good job to work all those years & only worked for two different people for the majority of that time. I had been given the highest review ratings and salary raises during all those years. Then, just when it seemed as though I had everything to live for, I was overcome with severe depression. People don't just go from being a fully functioning person to not being able to pull your head out from under the covers. You would think that would be a clue to people that knows you! Sorry, folks, I digress. The "company" that I worked for had excellent benefits for medical & mental health, however the plan was administered by a third party & the company had set up the contract so that the third party had the final say on granting or denying benefits. I found that no matter how much information was sent to them by my doctors, it all had to go past the case mgr before it went to the case supervisor and then to the nurse/dr. for review, it was going to be denied. They also had something like 90 days to respond. You have to be planning to commit suicide before anybody does anything. So much of what we all suffer could be caught much earlier if there weren’t such a negative stigma of "mental illness".
I've obviously gotten on my soapbox this time. Let me wrap this up by saying that after 23 years I resigned from my position. I had fallen from the top to the... well, what felt like the pathetic to me.
Since I've found BB, I have become so much stronger just by having a community that understands what I face everyday. Here on BB, I'm not being judged. (That's another thank you for Therese!) I would very much like to find someway to help our community of "crazy people". (Thanks for etiquette reminder on that one, Therese. It cracked me up! lol) I can say "crazy people" because I am one of them! Right now, darn proud of it!
I would sincerely appreciate any suggestions for ways to be more involved. For mental health coverage, disparity in the workplace or any other issues that we, as a community, face.

I spoke about the politics earlier ...

On the substance:

I was a member of an HMO in the Annapolis area when I was first diagnosed in 1997. (Probably the forerunner to Therese's "CareLast"!!) Sad to say, they were completely incompetent. My psychiatrist and therapist (separate, of course) were kind, sweet women; their empathy fooled me into thinking, at a point early in my diagnosis when I didn't have the self-education, that they knew what the heck they were doing.

(Or maybe they did know, and were trying to keep my care costs down ... yecch.)

I was medicated solely for unipolar depression, which meant the SSRI's (and my body rejected several of them) were slowly but surely pushing me toward mania -- which finally happened (also spurred, of course, by the stress of my divorce) in early 2000.

Any first-year medical student, or even an actor on House or Grey's Anatomy, could have figured out in retrospect from my symptoms that I had bipolar disorder. When I went from full mania to full depression to full hospitalization, I asked my (former, to say the least) psychiatrist why hadn't diagnosed me with BD earlier. Her response: "Well, we did explore the possibility ..." Ugh. I should have sued for malpractice.

My current "psychiatrist" (actually not an M.D.; she is an APRN with prescription privileges) is the recognized expert in central New Jersey on bipolar disorder -- numerous papers, presentations, etc. She does not take insurance, period. Her fee is reasonable enough (except I wish I could afford to see her more than once a month), but it's well worth it to know she is "unbought."

(Plus, I've seen her on and off now since that last breakdown 7-1/2 years ago -- she knows all the ups and downs of my history since, and I've kept out of further hospitalizations. More peace of mind.)