I know this doesn't have anything to do with ur insurance problem.My daughter was diagnosed as depressive at age twelve,also, and was given Zoloft.I thought that 12 was very early to be having depression. She continued to get worse for several years.I finally stumbled on an arcticle that said that "repressive personality" is often misdiagnosed as depressive and treatment is different.No antidepressants.Don't know if this is ur case,also,Liz.But my daughter is doing much better now.

I hope I don't sound trite, but if you had gone to an in-network doctor that bill would have been paid by the company. The beauty of a PPO plan is that it DOES allow you to go to ANY doctor you wish, but if you stay with 'in-network' doctors you get the full benefit of the plan. This particular case really is not the insurance company's fault, or the doctor's............it's yours. For not looking into things beforehand. All insurance carriers have a system that allows you to look up Preferred Providers before going to any doctor. This can save you a lot of headache.
If you ever move to Florida I'll be happy to show you how things work. I know health insurance like the back of my hand.

We are not raising children to deal with the realities of life. They think they can have everything handed to them without earning any of it. Someone will clean your room, pick up and wash your clothes, make your meals, do your homework, write phony excuses to the teacher when you have incomplete work, yell at the school principal when your child has disrupted their classroom, etc. Children need discipline (not beatings), they need responsibilities, they need to understand they play a role in making life better. If kids were not left to their own devices for much of their lives, if parents started parenting, rather than simply cleaning up after their kids because that takes less time and energy than actually teaching them, then our children would not end up depressed and feeling worthless. It is responsibility and achievement that makes a child feel they belong.

the writer unwittingly exposed the biggest shortcoming in the current system: "Between gynecological exams, lab tests, infected retinas and monthly doses of Klonopin and Lamictal, I have probably only spent about $1,500 out of pocket in the past year."

Now what do you suppose the actual cost was for all of those things listed? No doubt, significantly north of $1,500. Quite frankly, people have no clue about the cost of their care, because they bear so little of it themselves and because they rarely seen actual bill broken down line by line. They just expect someone else to pay for it.

Any belief that the president is going to make this right is from the same mindset that believes in warlocks and flying ponies. The onus has to move to the individual to know what is and is not included in his/her policy, and what payouts are. Until the public exercises the same sense of ownership over its health insurance policies as it does over its cell phone bills, stories like will only multiply.

This is a perfect example of why health care reform is needed. Unfortunately what has been proposed is not health care reform but the take over of the health care system by the government. If it is successful Ms. Skurnick is just a likely to get "end of life consuling" as paid coverage for her condition.

I await with baited breath "Woman up" stories on Acorn and the 13 year old hookers and pimps...Come on..Show us how much you care about women after all you cared when it was a 20 year old college paper or Joe Wilson..I will donated 1,000 to whatever charity you name if you post just one story on it...just one...step up,ladies

I'm guessing that if Lizzie would become a conservative, her depression would go away when she quits blaming others for her problems and expecting the government to make everything right for her, like a lefty does. Once she actually understands her problems are of her own making and that only she can fix them, all she has to do, is do the right things for herself in her life for a change, instead of the lefty and wrong things she used to do that only lead her to long term debilitating depression, misery and possible suicide.

Her sex life will improve dramatically too. Women, liberal, depressed, whack jobs like to hear that their sex life could easily be better since theirs is usually so horrible. You can guess whose fault that is too. Here is a hint Lizzy. It wasn't Bush.

I was admitted (once again) to a hospital for severe depression a couple of years ago. While there, my doctor put me on Effexor, Dan Lorazapam and a couple other scripts which I can't remember. He never bothered to check with Medicare to see if any of them were covered. Once released I was given a 3-day supply of the medications he put me on, and a handful of prescriptions to be filled by my pharmacist. Being in the condition I was in, I was not prepared for what happened. The pharmacy refused to fill the Effexor stating that it was not an approved drug by Medicare, and since I had no money at all for co-pays, I was unable to get any of them filled. I went through terrible withdrawals for several days and ended up having to be re-admitted in worse condition than when I orginally went in. During those few days, suicide was most definately an option. (I sometimes wonder how much nudging I would've gotten had this bill been passed back then?)

One of the case workers was visibly shaken by the difference only a few days made. She spent all day; eight long, dragging, anguished hours on the phone back and forth with Medicare trying to get it resolved while I sat and paced and moaned and deteriorated even further in the waiting room. Words can't even come close to describing the nightmare I went through. Eventually, the only way they did resolve it was to put me on a different medication.

For some unknown reason people think a government run healthcare program is going to be all peaches and cream but it isn't! I keep trying to tell you all that, even at the embarrassment of having to reveal deeply private things.

Trust me when I say there will be many, many more unforeseeable circumstances and consequences people will have to go through due to government red-tape than the stories being written about private sector insurance companies.

I have Mega Life and Health as an Insurer they have covered my wives Zoloft for depression on there PPO plan. They are not out of business and they have covered ud very well

For-profit insurance companies are the problem, along with Big Pharma. The health care reform bill will not fix this. It may be a first step, but on a very long up-hill road.

Current Health Insurance is a Biblical Harlot riding on Americans.
They (Harlot and Republicans) descriminate sick , poor and old. And
you have to buy Afflac too!! But when you get sick They-Harlot
supported by Republicans cancel Insurance and Americans 1.6 Million
per year getting bankropted!.
So now is a time for Insurance for all Americans! let us stop
monopoly of Harlot and Rpublicans support of it.

God bless Obama and all Americans!!!!!!

Republicans are more conservative until conception, but after that
Democrats getting all responsibilities for the rest of the life of
new conception (person), so in conclusion -in Gods eye Democrats are
far more conservative than Harlot-Republicans!!

Preachers confuse Americans and deliver them to Republicans in the
form of votes, and they get kick-back in the form of "Base Faith
Initiative" and this is their Conservatism!!!!

for us working Americans Republicans deliver "radioactive shafts" -
mortgages, credit cards and Harlot Insurance.

This issue is not black and white. I have good insurance but pay way more than I can afford. My insurance is good until something out of the ordinary occurs. Then, I must spend hours fighting for that treatment. And read the policy? Seriously, I need a lawyer to understand some of it. It is all an aggravating situation. My doctors call my insurance company about everything out of the ordinary because it is never a sure thing with insurance. Then the clinic must call me to see if I can afford it if they don't cover it. What a mess. No wonder we are depressed...and many of us are.

Sorry for your problems, but as others have mentioned you do have to be diligent about making sure BEFORE seeing a physician that they are in the network. While this won't solve all your problems, it will eliminate a good portion of the most burdensome ones. The same goes for prescriptions. You generally can find out with a phone call before you travel to a pharmacy to fill a prescription whether or not its covered.

I was self-insured for years. This came after years of having an employer provided program. Yes it was expensive and yes there were a certain number of battles involved, but it also taught me a lot about how the system works. On several occasions, all that had to be done was to have the doctors office recode the claim in a fashion that provided coverage. That particular piece of information came directly from the insurance company itself.

The alternative to what we have now, where we can choose whatever doctor we want (but not necessarily receive identical coverage, depending on our choice) and take advantage of the latest drugs (but not necessarily have them covered fully or at all) is a system much like the one my father has been subjected to in order to get his prescriptions covered. It's a public option. It's called the VA. You don't to choose a doctor. Often times you don't see a doctor at all. You are prescribed medicines from a limited list of what the VA has available and that list changes from time to time, meaning you may very well have prescription changed not due to any particular medical need, but due to availability.

Everything has a price. Choice has a price. Convenience has a price. Utilizing the latest and greatest (whether warranted or not) has a price.

Having been treated for depression myself by a physician that was very aware of the financial situation I was in at the time (self employed and self insured), we started off with a group of medicines that had reached the generic stage, rather than jump on the latest and greatest. After going through 4 or 5 of them we finally hit on one that worked. It was so inexpensive that it was cheaper for me to buy it outright than it would have been to submit a claim for it.

The point is that there is no system available now or that will be available in the future in which it isn't going to be inherent upon the patient to be a smart shopper when at all possible. And, emergency situations aside, it is possible. I know because I've had to do it myself. And thankfully, there are physicians out there who understand that and who are willing to work with you on it. You just have to seek them out.

I have had an insurance policy for over 20 years. I knew what I was buying when I bought it and I still do. I purposely bought a large deductible plan. I looked at all the plans available and knew that I could afford up to the deductible. I read every contract and that is how I decided. I've not had any problems with out of the ordinary things coming up. What is that? It wouldn't matter anyway, I know what my policy covers and doesn't. Looking for a panacea within government is ignorance at best, just take on some responsibility for your own health. If you can't afford a deductible plan, get something else. Don't be so ignorant about insurance. It is really not that hard to understand.

This particular journalist with all the physical and mental problems should probably start looking for a mental institution. I've lived a long time and believe me I've never had half the problems she has.

I use St. John's Wort and it works fine for me. No need to go for the high priced drugs that are pushed on TV and in print ads. That's competition and, if more people try natural remedies and, if they work, stick with them, the price of drugs will come down due to less demand. Sadly some people will not get a benefit from natural remedies but the resulting lower prices will help them somewhat.

That's free enterprise and capitalism.

nice read

cool....

My entire medical care rested on how scared I could make some functionary in some office in Phoenix, Ariz.
And now I have to begin the process again. I will call BlueChoice, which will involve being sent from department to department, knowing no one will know anything or think I am at the right department. I have to look through my records and find proof of BlueChoice covering care like this for me before. I have to draft another appeal to both the Maryland Insurance Administration and BlueChoice, knowing that they will probably deny the claim and then once I re-file will tell me the 60 days are up. I will have my doctor write a letter. I may have to go to a hearing or wait six months, hoping BlueChoice either decides I am not worth this effort or becomes scared that a judge at the end of my state appeals will think I am.
By the way, a few months after I received the money MegaLife owed me, they went out of business. I can only hope Obama's reforms bring the rest of them to their knees