The United States of America is one of those places where you can find the best healthcare in the world, but only as long as you can afford it. Unfortunately, medical costs are so high in the States that most people can’t really afford it. While in case of severe physical ailments, people have no option but to find a way to get themselves treated, the situation becomes more complicated when it’s mental healthcare that the person is in need of. As psychological issues are not viewed socially as an emergency in most situations, people will often forego therapy after looking at the associated costs. This of course, makes the situation worse with time, and life becomes that much more difficult. The good news is that even in the US, there are ways for us to afford quality mental healthcare without going bankrupt. To help everyone know what we are talking about here, let’s discuss them next.
Community Healthcare Centers
State operated community mental healthcare centers have recently gone through a lot of financial setbacks unfortunately, but even then, they are a good place to look for support. Community centers usually have both inpatient and outpatient services and the cost of consultation is quite affordable. Just find one near you and give it a try to check things out for yourself.
Affordable Health Insurance
Health insurance significantly cuts down on all types of medical bills, but plans are not cheap in most cases either. Fortunately, Health Insurance Innovations is an insurance company that enables even regular people to have individual health insurance at an affordable cost. The process of signing up is quite easy since the entire registration and other associated processes can be completed online. Once you sign up, high-quality therapy and psychiatric treatment should finally become a feasible and affordable option.
Go to a Training Clinic
Before a student becomes a certified therapist or a clinical psychiatrist, he/she must go through sufficient training to prepare for real life public interactions with patients. You can become one of their initial patients at a very low or totally absent cost during the training period. Along with being adequately qualified themselves, these students are also accompanied by a licensed and experienced psychiatrist/therapy counselor, so you would be in good hands. Local colleges and universities are the places to look for training clinics and you can also check out the list at APTC.
Online Therapy
As with most things on the internet, online therapy and counseling is a much cheaper option as compared to traditional, one-on-one sessions. There are also telephonic options available for support and they too are cheaper than traditional therapy. It’s not quite the same as sitting in front of someone and talking, but sometimes, the anonymity might work in your favor as well.
Aside from the four methods mentioned above, a religious person can go to the church pastor for guidance and counseling for free. The same applies to spiritual mentors and other religious leaders as well. In addition to all this, there are plenty of grassroots organizations out there that are dedicated to helping regular people in the US in overcoming their psychiatric problems. It doesn’t always have to cost you top dollar to get mental healthcare, as long as the source is a genuine one.
