Mental health care is broken

My wife and I have learned more about mental health in the past 4 months than we have learned our entire lives. We have joined a support group with hundreds of other parents all over the country. Many of these parents have been caring for their BPD children for several years and some even a decade or two. We have read books, blogs and many comments within the group. So much of what is posted sounds like what we deal with everyday. Many of the stories and experiences sound like they could have easily been written by my wife or myself. Hearing the frustration and sadness in the posts is tough and we can definitely empathize.

One thing that comes up often in the group is how difficult it is to obtain treatment. The initial search for facilities is very overwhelming. Once you narrow down your search based on treatment types, location and availability, then you need to see how much is actually covered by insurance. Many facilities charge between $600-$1200 per day. Some of the large insurance companies use their influence to dictate what amount they will pay the facilities. They don't care what portion the patient is left to pay.

My personal medical plan only covers 60 days of residential treatment, per person, per year. Our daughter has previously been to a facility in Atlanta for 28 days, so we have only 32 days at the new facility. After that time, I will be responsible for the cost of treatment, which is $1,000 per day. This is a completely ridiculous cost to be passed on to the patients family. My daughter will require at minimum 2 months of treatment. This means I must come up with a solution in the remaining 29 days. I plan to call and email every possible department at BCBS and file any appeals that I need to. We are looking at doing some fundraising of our own to help cover any addition treatment needed. Our daughter is in desperate need of treatment and we feel it is important to receive this treatment as soon as possible. We want her to get well and be able to resume and productive and peaceful future. We will do whatever it takes and not stop fighting until we find a solution.

If you have any experience or resources in the area of fighting insurance companies, please email me. I am willing to do all of the research and leg work needed to get to the right channels.

We appreciate all of your prayers and text messages regarding our daughter, it means a lot.