health insurance and prozac/wellbutrin

purplegal828 · 04-06-2005, 10:07 PM

Hello everyone. In case you don't remember, I recently switched from Prozac (which I had been taking since '01) to wellbutrin, because of sexual side effects. However, one side effect that I did not anticipate was not being able to get health insurance. You see, the thing is, since I'm no longer a full-time student, I can't be on my parents' health insurance anymore, so I have to get my own individual insurance. But when I called the agent to ask about Blue Cross and he asked about my medical history, he flat-out denied me just because of my history of depression and anxiety, explaining that these chronic conditions cost the insurance companies more money. And he even asked me if there was any specific event in the past year that had caused my depression and anxiety. Hello! It's an inborn, biological condition! The nerve of that guy! This is blatant discrimination! So anyway, I was just wondering if any of you have had experience w/ the same dilemma (being denied insurance because of depression/anxiety meds), and how you solved it.

Thanks,

Molli

dani_bones · 04-19-2005, 03:42 AM

I have had that experience. I too am in college and until recently didn't have any insurance. You can get on the county mental health system in your city. They can't deny you. County mental health is based on a sliding scale of income. Most likely if you're a student, you'll pay nothing for coverage and/or perscriptions.

purplegal828 · 04-19-2005, 01:19 PM

thanks, but I'm no longer a student, so I don't know if that applies to me anymore. But thanks anyway

lisadukk · 04-20-2005, 12:04 AM

it's even worse when you are paying through the nose for insurance and the dr that you finally find that seems to help or at least has been trying isn't in their program, we are now trying to get them to help cover something...his visits run 300 an hour and i go twice a month. fortunately my meds are covered partially, but the cost keeps going up on them. mhmr is somewhere that is supposed to help i know someone who used to go there, i don't know if that is something just here in texas or not. i dream of the day when mental illness is treated with the respect and that insurance companies realize that just pulling a name out of their hat isn't going to give the dx or help that someone needs.
sorry for rambling and hope this makes sense...
good luck.....Lisa
ps. look up MHMR and see what you find...

jennanoble3 · 04-20-2005, 08:35 AM

purple, state health is for anyone, regardless of whether or not you are a student. It's just Medicaid. Also, for some people, depression/anxiety has been a chronic issue, but there are some people (i.e. wives of men in Iraq) that have had a very traumatic event recently that caused the depression/anxiety, which is why he asked because there are different liability issues. If it was recently onset, they may not have denied you because it is probably a temporary bout of depression. If it is chronic, you will more than likely need to be treated for the rest of your life. HTH

dani_bones · 04-21-2005, 03:38 AM

It doesn't matter if you are a student or not. County health is available to anyone that qualify's. You should check it out. If nothing else you can get on your county health plan to get your perscriptions covered and have some help until you find another plan who'll accept you.

jlucy · 04-27-2005, 02:12 AM

I live in FL. I got denied for PCOS and didn't even tell them I'd ever been treated for depression. I've been told that's a sure way to be denied though. I'm 32 years old. I'm in independent contractor. I cannot get medicaid in this state (Florida) because I make too much money. So I'm uninsured. Sucks.

dani_bones · 04-28-2005, 02:43 AM

A health insurance advisor at my school told me to first apply under a ficticious name and be honest. He said if you get denied, then don't tell them about the PCOS or the depression. He said if you go to a doctor about your symptoms and hold back the already known diagnoses then although you will be starting from scratch, you will be able to be insured. It really sucks that it has to be that way. It's so unfair. But i think for some of us, it's the only way to get some medical help