My monthly medications (The cost of health care)

Mental health care is expensive. I don’t understand this fact. It seems that to help people who really need help, it should come with a lower price tag. Especially since I have a disorder that makes it impossible to stay employed when an episode strikes and there’s no safety net. I have good insurance and thus my copayment for my medications are low. However, the market price for all my medications combined, per month, is over two thousand dollars (that’s not a misprint). My psychiatrist doesn’t take insurance and he charges hundreds of dollars for a twenty minute session. My psychologist doesn’t take insurance either. Last year alone, I spent close to nine thousand dollars (again, not a misprint) on my mental health care. I can barely afford it but I’m able to manage.

I could change doctors to ones that take my insurance but it’s always a crap shoot. For every good psychiatrist there’s one that doesn’t seem to know what they’re doing. Plus, my psychiatrist has been my doctor for over fifteen years. I joked a couple of months ago that we’re growing gray together. He knows me. I don’t want to start over again.

I don’t pretend to know every conversation and every circumstance. Some with a mental illness don’t want to accept help. However, just know that if you find yourself telling someone with a mental illness to take medication, you’re not telling them to do something obvious, you’re probably telling them to do something they can’t afford.