May help some but the psychiatrists I have talked to are not happy. It is also going to really hurt those of us on Medicare and Medicaid. They try to sugar coat it and say it wont but it already is. My psychiatrist who had a stand alone practice had to shut his down and join a huge practice that is part of one working under a local 3 county hospital system. This is so he simply gets a salary and doesnt have to pay his own insurances. The amount he was looking to get from the public health insurance such as Medicare and Medicaid were just estimated to be way to low for him to turn any type of profit and he was one of the good guys in private practice who took those on Medicare and Medicaid. I sure wish they would fix the stupid law about which type of therapist they would pay for. Even the people at Medicare cant figure that one out. There shouldnt be an issue but there is. It needs to be changed at the congressional level but so far, they have been fighting for the last 15 years to get LPC into the wording and they cant get it in.
It isnt just mental health either for us. I called to make an appointment for some physical therapy and was told that yeah I could make the appointment but I should know going in that they have now capped it at 1200 lifetime for people on medicare and medicaid! If they back date that, I have more than used my allotment. And, if I ever plan to have knee surgery, I will have used up my lifetime cap if I do this PT now. I dont know what to do. Gamble that something may change before I need the knees replaced and do what I need to do for me now or bank it.