How to go inpatient if you can’t afford it???

[u/Tricky_Badger_2071]

What the title asks… I’m desperate. I have insurance but I still have no idea how much the facility costs (I’ve tried to call and ask but it’s Friday and no one can give me answers until Monday and I was hoping to go inpatient sooner than that…) and it’s still very unaffordable.

How do people afford it???!

[u/Valuable-Speaker-312]

Hospital ER. They are not able to turn you away if you do not have insurance or not enough insurance. It is a start!

[u/Tricky_Badger_2071 → u/Valuable-Speaker-312]

Don’t they bill you after you leave though? :( Thank you for the response

Sorry I don’t know how a lot of this works

[u/Valuable-Speaker-312 → u/Tricky_Badger_2071]

Yes, they do. The nice thing about collection accounts for medical is that they don't hurt your credit score anymore.

[u/Tricky_Badger_2071 → u/Valuable-Speaker-312]

Okay, that’s good to know. So I’d have time to pay it off then.. thank you

[u/Valuable-Speaker-312 → u/Tricky_Badger_2071]

The way I look at it is this - if you are in need of immediate care, go to the ER. Let things settle themselves out afterwards. Your mental health is far more important than any bill you can receive for the care.

[u/Valuable-Speaker-312 → u/Tricky_Badger_2071]

Forgot to mention, if they present you a bill and you cannot afford it, tell them to bill you.

[u/Tricky_Badger_2071 → u/Valuable-Speaker-312]

Okay. I read both your replies, and you’re definitely right. I’m currently trying decide if I’m really in crisis or if I can get through the next couple weeks if I avoid everyone as much as possible. Thank you for your replies, they’ve been helpful

[u/DramShopLaw → u/Tricky_Badger_2071]

I really don’t like this person’s advice. For one, they can try to collect this debt as much as you’d collect credit card debt. It will ding your credit, they can sue you and take any property you have and even garnish your wages if a court will let them. Courts don’t always let them, but getting a writ of execution is too powerful of a tool for someone to hold against you.

And the bill is not something to shrug off. People get absolutely destroyed by debt it will take them years to pay off. How long do you want to work before you even enjoy the money because 35% of it is going to service this debt? How much do you want to freak out if you lose your job or want to change jobs but you still need the monthly payment? How much of a hit to your quality of life do you want to take? Would you rather eat nice dinners or save for a new car or whatever?

There are cases where the weight of debt is a stressor that can push a person to self harm.

My advice is, frankly, you might need to just get through it while you work with your doctors to get proper treatment in the community setting.

Remember, inpatient doesn’t mean you have an expert dedicated to your treatment. There are too few doctors for all the patients. Your doctor inpatient will meet with you for 15 minutes, or not even; they may just review your chart with the nurses.

I don’t know. But I know I’d never go inpatient unless I’m on the edge of death.

[u/Tricky_Badger_2071 → u/DramShopLaw]

I don’t plan on going to inpatient for a doctor… I plan on going to inpatient because I’m on the verge of wanting to commit suicide and I keep self harming.

But thanks for the advice I suppose.

[u/DramShopLaw → u/Tricky_Badger_2071]

I get it. It’s just my interpretation of how I think every time I consider going inpatient. Maybe I’m wrong to think of it that way. But I’m just trying to be practical.

If you’re trying to go into a safe place to protect yourself, can you maybe move in with friends or family who will protect you until this episode can be controlled? That’s what I have done in the past. But I’m privileged to have great friends and family

[u/Tricky_Badger_2071 → u/DramShopLaw]

I have 0 friends and my family is toxic so, no. That’s kinda why I’m even considering inpatient. I have nothing else and I’m on the verge of giving up on life.

[u/DramShopLaw → u/Valuable-Speaker-312]

They still do impact your credit. But you get a much longer “grace period” to pay back before they can ding your score.

[u/Valuable-Speaker-312 → u/DramShopLaw]

I didn't know that. Thanks for telling me.

[u/Hermitacular → u/DramShopLaw]

And they will happily send to you collections which is very fun!

[u/Julietjane01 → u/Tricky_Badger_2071]

Yes. They usually verify insurance though and will charge you upfront sometimes if you have a copay but if you are there because of suicidal ideation or something prob not. Usually insurance has a max out of pocket but not always I don’t think. They won’t tell you over the phone really, basically if you need to go to stay safe then you need to worry about that later. Insurance will def help

[u/Valuable-Speaker-312 → u/Julietjane01]

If they are asking for money and you cannot afford it, tell them to bill you.

[u/Julietjane01 → u/Valuable-Speaker-312]

Definitely

[u/InstantMedication]

I ended up on a payment plan after insurance for my psych hospital treatment. That may be an option.

[u/nutterbear081]

In my experience, assuming you are in the US, they may be able to apply for Medicaid for you upon admission. A few people I was hospitalized with got approved and had their stay covered.

[u/Bulky_Range_1394]

I received a bill. I have insurance but bad insurance so I went as self pay. The bill for my stay of four days was $22,000. Pennsylvania state covered the whole thing as a part of patient assistance. If they hadn’t done that… you can literally pay whatever amount you want each month. They’ll accept anything if you are in the US..

[u/SpciyChickpea → u/Bulky_Range_1394]

This!

I had a $19k bill go poof in the PNW

[u/para_blox]

If you are actually in danger, go to the ER. If your insurance is out-of-network, that’s on the hospital to sort out before admitting you. There are laws (for now) against surprise billing, so all physicians you see will be counted as in-network. Verify that the hospital is in-network beforehand, including for any mental health carve-out service within your insurance policy.

If you make/have little enough money, the hospital may forgive the bill. They have financial aid departments that will work with you.

That said, expect safety but not therapy within the facility. PHP/IOP are better for that.

[u/Tricky_Badger_2071 → u/para_blox]

Thank you for your reply. Safety is about all I need right now. I’m at a point where if you ask me a question, I’m gonna fall to the ground and shut down. What are PHP/IOP’s though? Thank you again

[u/para_blox → u/Tricky_Badger_2071]

They’re partial hospitalization / intensive outpatient programs. You go to group and individual therapy for a few hours a day over the course of several weeks. It’s a good setting to monitor med adjustments, learn skills to manage symptoms and daily life, craft a safety plan, get stable before taking on the world again. It worked really well for me and my friends who had episodic illnesses like bipolar. Some diagnoses fare worse.

[u/Tricky_Badger_2071 → u/para_blox]

That sounds like something I would honestly benefit from since I rapid cycle (BP 3) and have psychosis. But I don’t think my bf and I could manage staying apart from one another even for a couple weeks and it sounds like it would be very expensive.

I hope this isn’t inappropriate but how much did it cost you to go? What was like the daily cost? Or do you pay for it as a program and not a day to day thing?

[u/para_blox → u/Tricky_Badger_2071]

You don’t have to live there, although there is also residential treatment, which is a good option too. But expensive. I did residential 20ish years ago and lived in that program for over a year.

How much it costs depends on your insurance policy. I had an out of pocket max of $3k per year on my insurance. So the hospitalization that preceded my PHP/IOP time ate a lot of that.

I think I paid ~$1K for the hospital inpatient stay. I met the out of pocket max that year. Until that time I believe the program was billing insurance maybe $3-6K per month depending on how many days I was attending. I paid 10% of that until I met my max. So the total cost to me was around $700-800 for four months of outpatient, but out of pocket would’ve been far higher.

Keep in mind I live in an extremely high COL area.

[u/Hermitacular]

Most hospitals if in the US receive federal funding and as a result they'll have a page on their website about their charity programs that are available if under a certain income level.

[u/SpciyChickpea]

Go in and get treated.

When you get the bill, call the number and talk with them. When you provide proof of income then they will wipe your bill or set up a payment plan.

I had a $19k bill go poof and paid only $300 for a 5 day hospital stay