Reply to I need about $20k to get us through a layoff-home equity loan?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]How did medical bills eat up your savings? You don’t have health insurance? OOP maximums are usually under $20k. [/quote]

OOP maximums assume that you see in-network doctors. For mental health services, it is nigh impossible to find someone who accepts insurance. I did see a lovely doctor who took BCBS, but she passed away. Try to get in as a new patient in DC or metro-accessible burbs and you’ll find psychiatrists, psychologists and the like normally charge about $250 per hour. If I’m lucky, Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal reimburses us at the rate of $81 per visit, after deductible, yada yada. So for example, two visits per week for two family members = @ $250 * 2 = $500 * 52 = $26K out of pocket with perhaps 1/2 of the sessions (26 each) reimbursed at $81.12 = $2109.12 x 2 = $4218.24 reimbursement so about $21,750 out of pocket plus the costs of any additional therapies, medications, and the time and expense to visit the health practitioners. Now, you can deduct any about over 7.5% from tax. We usually do about $30k a year in unreimbursed medical. So if you assume income of $160k, you can deduct any unreimbursed medical expenses over $12k per year. So we end up being able to deduct $18k, which makes a difference but comes no where close to reimbursing us for our expenses. [/quote]

Regular counseling sessions over the course of an entire year are not what unexpectedly made OP broke. She’s either lying about medical costs or doesn’t know how to budget which sounds pretty problematic when you have that much money. More money, more problems. [/quote]

I’m the person posting about the lack of mental health parity and how easy it is to run up $30K per year in OoP spending when you have two special needs family members. I am not the OP. [/quote]

There are therapists and psychiatrists that take insurance if you look hard enough or are flexible.  OP isn't saying its mental health.[/quote]

DP.  OP also isn’t in this area, we have no idea how hard it is in her area to find whatever in network specialist they need (while we’re on mental health, the lack of available mental health professionals in some area that take insurance, my friend ended up at the emergency room because she could not find anyone with openings).[/quote]

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