Will using medical insurance for mental health appointments/treatments affect one's future career?

[Anonymous]

As emphasized many times previously, DS should do what he needs to do to take care of himself. But do not do this with an eye towards concealment. It may never come up in the normal course of things. But if it does, do not hide it. That is absolutely the wrong thing to do.

[Anonymous]

It most definitely will if you are trying to get a clearance or upgraded clearance.

[Anonymous]

Don't lie.
But if there IS no diagnosis, there is no lie if asked if diagnosed with a mental illness.
Therapy for life situations is not treating mental illness.
They usually don't ask if you ever took a medicine.
What diagnosis is recorded on bills matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It most definitely will if you are trying to get a clearance or upgraded clearance.

Maybe. My husband literally went to rehab for 90 days, and kept his clearance and bar license (and government job).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been self-pay to my psychiatrist for years for this reason after I reached an executive level at a job and learned in some meetings where we discussed insurance benefits and costs that what you charge to insurance isn't totally private. I don't self-pay for my medication though.

I recognize that I am being unreasonably cautious, or even paranoid, and that over the years is has cost me thousands, but it is what I've done.

The carrier provides generalized usage information at renewal time: $XXX,XXX in prescription claims, 15 child births, four surgeries, 200 specialist appointments, etc. But it’s for the whole company, not specific people.

Obviously, you likely know who had a baby. And if you are a small company, and hire one new person and your pharmacy claims suddenly skyrocket, you might guess it’s the new hire. But it might not be.

[Anonymous]

Lately, I've noticed various medical offices are able to access all medical info, even from unrelated visits at different offices.

I made an appointment for DH at a walk-in clinic chain that we had never been to. I gave his name & birthdate and they immediately pulled up our address and his entire medical history. It was a little unnerving that they could do this!

He recently signed up with the VA as a backup to Medicare and they can see all records of non-VA Drs he's gone to in between VA appointments. Plus they can see all images, lab results, etc.

And his local Drs can see all his VA records, without any specific transferring between offices. Apparently there is now a common database where every office is sending the medical records.

He's never signed a blanket "permission to share medical info with other places".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It most definitely will if you are trying to get a clearance or upgraded clearance.

Maybe. My husband literally went to rehab for 90 days, and kept his clearance and bar license (and government job).

+1. While the circumstances will be considered, many similar instances have been cleared.

Attempting to hide it turns you into an insider threat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lately, I've noticed various medical offices are able to access all medical info, even from unrelated visits at different offices.

I made an appointment for DH at a walk-in clinic chain that we had never been to. I gave his name & birthdate and they immediately pulled up our address and his entire medical history. It was a little unnerving that they could do this!

He recently signed up with the VA as a backup to Medicare and they can see all records of non-VA Drs he's gone to in between VA appointments. Plus they can see all images, lab results, etc.

And his local Drs can see all his VA records, without any specific transferring between offices. Apparently there is now a common database where every office is sending the medical records.

He's never signed a blanket "permission to share medical info with other places".

EMR

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It most definitely will if you are trying to get a clearance or upgraded clearance.

Maybe. My husband literally went to rehab for 90 days, and kept his clearance and bar license (and government job).

+1. While the circumstances will be considered, many similar instances have been cleared.

Attempting to hide it turns you into an insider threat.

Hiding things is virtually always a bigger problem. One, you can't be trusted in general if you have hidden things, and second, you are potentially vulnerable to blackmail.

[Anonymous]

Here’s the thing - the careers which are affected by mental health records are usually the military and national security positions and some jobs like air pilot, Peace Corps, etc. that require security clearances or have high chances of injury, extreme stress or lack of access to mental health on extended jobs.

If you go “off record” and pay for mental health out of pocket in order to avoid a paper trail, and then when you are asked in the security clearance process whether you have ever gone to therapy or taken psychiatric medications and you say “no”, you will be lying on a federal form which is perjury. You may think you won’t get caught, but in today’s electronic world, I think it’s a real risk that someone pulls some record or interviews someone who says something that reveals the MI.

It is always better to get your mental health treated and be fully transparent about it when you apply for these jobs. Yes, maybe you can no longer be an air pilot or go to the Peace Corps, but the solution is not to white knuckle your mental health.

Many people who have psychiatric treatment w/ medication are able to get clearances. Bob Boorstin (bipolar) and George Stephanopolous (depression) talked about this as far back as the Clinton Administration. But, you can ‘t lie about it, and you will be asked to provide access to your treatment notes.

A family member with bipolar has had a secret clearance for a long time, despite being on and off medications and have failed marriages, affairs, etc. Not disqualifying in and of itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HIPAA regulations prevent disclosure. Right?

OF COURSE !!!

Security clearance jobs ask - sometimes, depends on the administration- to self disclose…. There’s less of a way tfor verify if no actual record. “Have you ever been treated for by form of mental illness” etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lately, I've noticed various medical offices are able to access all medical info, even from unrelated visits at different offices.

I made an appointment for DH at a walk-in clinic chain that we had never been to. I gave his name & birthdate and they immediately pulled up our address and his entire medical history. It was a little unnerving that they could do this!

He recently signed up with the VA as a backup to Medicare and they can see all records of non-VA Drs he's gone to in between VA appointments. Plus they can see all images, lab results, etc.

And his local Drs can see all his VA records, without any specific transferring between offices. Apparently there is now a common database where every office is sending the medical records.

He's never signed a blanket "permission to share medical info with other places".

I have encountered this over-sharing as well. It seems that local institutions are interpreting the consent form that you sign at every visit consenting to “use of the portal” as consent to share everything with CRISP….Chesapeake Regional Information System for Patients. Unless you specifically opt out in writing to CRISP directly, your medical info is accessible by every doctor everywhere in the DMV.

I recently made a new patient appointment with a doctor in the JHU system and was surprised when that office pulled lots of information about me from Medstar without my consent. They pulled information that I would not have provided - imaging that was confusingly labeled, info from primary care physicians I hadn’t seen in 10 years, etc. In addition, the whole point of the appointment was to provide a second opinion, so I did not want them to be able to see who the other doctor was and what they had or had not diagnosed and recommended.

There really is no medical privacy anymore.

And that is a very scary thing to contemplate in this post-Dobbs, Trump/ RFK era. For example, RFK indicated he was going to have the USG purchase commercially available medical info for autism research/registry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would self pay and not use insurance for meds. The pharmacy has coupons for uninsured people who cash pay.

Even if you don’t have insurance, the prescription registry will show that you’ve taken the medication.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here’s the thing - the careers which are affected by mental health records are usually the military and national security positions and some jobs like air pilot, Peace Corps, etc. that require security clearances or have high chances of injury, extreme stress or lack of access to mental health on extended jobs.

If you go “off record” and pay for mental health out of pocket in order to avoid a paper trail, and then when you are asked in the security clearance process whether you have ever gone to therapy or taken psychiatric medications and you say “no”, you will be lying on a federal form which is perjury. You may think you won’t get caught, but in today’s electronic world, I think it’s a real risk that someone pulls some record or interviews someone who says something that reveals the MI.

It is always better to get your mental health treated and be fully transparent about it when you apply for these jobs. Yes, maybe you can no longer be an air pilot or go to the Peace Corps, but the solution is not to white knuckle your mental health.

Many people who have psychiatric treatment w/ medication are able to get clearances. Bob Boorstin (bipolar) and George Stephanopolous (depression) talked about this as far back as the Clinton Administration. But, you can ‘t lie about it, and you will be asked to provide access to your treatment notes.

A family member with bipolar has had a secret clearance for a long time, despite being on and off medications and have failed marriages, affairs, etc. Not disqualifying in and of itself.

Agree that it’s better to get treatment and be honest when you’re asked, but note that you can be an airline pilot or join Peace Corp or get a security clearance with a diagnosis of GAD.

I realize he’s too young to be thinking about life insurance right now, but many insurance companies will no longer insure you if you have an anxiety diagnosis and have taken meds. He might want to get an insurance policy before he gets treatment.

But if it were my child, I wouldn’t worry about that. I’d just encourage him to get the treatment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It most definitely will if you are trying to get a clearance or upgraded clearance.

Maybe. My husband literally went to rehab for 90 days, and kept his clearance and bar license (and government job).

Maybe a very basic clearance and for some reason I seriously doubt this.