mtn (Forum Supporter) said:You're never going to solve it. It does need to be improved. You can lead a horse to water but can't make them drink. But right now, in this country, due to health insurance pre-approvals or lack of coverage or outright cost, you might find that the water has a fence around it and the gate takes months of red tape to open, or what is often an impossible amount of money to open, or something else. A horse may or may not drink water if you bring it to the water, but if the water isn't there or is impossible to get to, it will not drink water.
And while this is anecdotal, I say this as someone who has "good" health insurance who had to find a partial hospitalization program for my wife, figure out what we could afford AFTER hitting our deductible, having to change therapists 3 times because the only ones in network were all overbooked... Suffice to say, when it came time for my brother to go into a rehab facility for his alcoholism, my wife and I sat down with my mom and dad to look at his insurance (brothers fiance was staying with my brother), consulted with his doctor and their billing staff, and we figured out that the quickest, most affordable way to get it completed was to take him to the emergency room to then get admitted as a psychiatric risk to then get transferred to the rehab facility.
That should not ever be a thing. It should not take 4 people with 6 college degrees between them - 3 of them medical degrees and 2 of the people still working at a berkeleying hospital - 4 hours and consultation with numerous professionals to figure out how the hell to get treatment, to find out that instead of going to the source of the treatment, you have to go through 2 pointless steps to get there first. That is just asinine. Oh, and if my parents hadn't been handling the finances, my brother would have had to declare bankruptcy.
Quoted for emphasis as it closely matches the experiences I have had first hand trying to find help for family members. The current system seems to be designed around two ends of the spectrum: Extreme cost boutique treatment, or what seem like half-scam billing mills feeding off of court ordered treatment for people who have already fallen out of society's bottom (also at extreme cost). It's extremely distressing for everyone involved.