Reply to What’s with all the insanely long waitlists in the DMV

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Unfortunately, it’s only an issue if you are using insurance. If you are full pay, you can get any of these services in a “reasonable” amount of time. It’s not fair but that is how the system works. I called a week ago to schedule a neuropsych and have an appointment for my daughter the first week of January. [/quote]

Why is this though? Is there a reason so many of these providers don’t want to deal with insurance? It seem like that is public policy issue if insurance plans are not covering things or not offering enough to be worthwhile to providers. I’m having a hard time right now finding a child psychiatrist in network without a super long waitlist. It’s depressing.

Could this be legislated like the pre-existing condition or maternity coverage? I think the pandemic exacerbated the waitlists because kids fell behind in services and are still trying to catch up. It would be nice if Congress would do something to make these services more available using insurance. The OOP costs are too high for most families [/quote]

Here’s one example. It’s a bit dated, and things have only gotten worse.

As a psychotherapist, working with kids, I often: Observed kids in multiple school settings at multiple times, provided consultation to their multiple teachers, met as-needed with parents for short periods of time, coordinated with other health care providers, coordinated referrals for other services.  None of those services were reimbursed.  Crisis intervention usually wasn’t reimbursed— if the kid was admitted to a higher level of care.  Insurances only authorized a limited number of sessions, so, periodically, I’d wait on hold, then justify my request for more services. That’s not billable time either. Insurance usually doesn’t pay for missed sessions— and missed sessions can’t usually be filled on short /No notice.  And of course there’s the paperwork time that gets compounded with insurance reimbursement.

I have many years of experience working with kids and families in multiple settings.  I learned to do psych testing in a setting that focused on learning disabilities and differences.  I have a lot of the skills that seem to be in high demand right now.  Insurance reimbursement, at least in my experience, requires a lot of therapist time that doesn’t directly benefit clients, and reduces actual profit —  once you take away the costs expenses and unbillable but critical tasks — to relatively little.

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