I have been trying to find a psychiatrist to help my husband overcome his broken heart for so many years now, but to no avail. The latest one we tried, which I was really counting being the one who could finally understand him and give him the true compassionate care and help he needed was the exact opposite. We were very discouraged to say the least. The whole operation was a big bureaucratic mess. Ever since ObamaCare came into the picture, more doctors left the Blue Cross/Blue Shield network (My husband had to leave his previous good psychiatrist because they dropped Blue Cross) Those psychiatrists who remain are so full they are no longer accepting new patients. It’s a nightmare! In this office where my husband went, they treated everyone like they were cattle, “next!”. Okay, so maybe I’m exaggerating, but I have been desperately counting on my husband finding the psychiatrist that will help him. I have employer’s insurance Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Now it feels like Blue Cross/Blue Shield is the new Medicaid, where working middle class people now have to compete with previously uninsured people for the same doctors, while the well to do see the more reliable high quality doctors middle class people used to have or may never have had. I know what Medicaid is like because I used to be poor, and I dug myself out of poverty by the grace of God. ObamaCare, while giving healthcare access to the uninsured, also caused quality healthcare to become more out of reach for working people as good doctors drop out of insurance networks since ObamaCare includes Blue Cross Blue Shield, which makes it more of a hassle for doctors when a whole slew of people come pouring into the office that didn’t used to come. I’ve noticed a doctor I was seeing since before HealthCare.gov went into effect now has an overstuffed waiting room. He still gives great care, and he is a compassionate doctor for me. Unfortunately, he can not help my husband. So we’ve looked through the list of every psychiatrist from A-Z literally that were on our insurance plan. I believe insurance companies and drug companies are paying low quality doctors who are only in it for the money to give substandard care to as many people as possible, not giving them the dignity they deserve, keeping them incompetent and stuck in a rut, so that nobody who is really troubled can become well or whole again, causing them to remain unable to make a better life for themselves and disallowing them a chance at a more meaningful future? They might as well be put away in an institution for life. I have trying to get a psychiatrist who really understands my husband and be his ally in his healing for years and years. Ironically, the doctors who are not in it for the money are not as likely to accept insurance. Unfortunately many people who are dependent on their insurance are no longer able to access quality doctors. I don’t mean to be political. But my whole point is that the healthcare system treats people like they are expendable rather than people of value. True, the previously uninsured now have access to healthcare, but it is relatively of very low quality. They are happy to have a doctor at all even if they are terribly inconvenienced. HealthCare.gov has become the new Medicaid.
I visited the National Holocaust Museum and Memorial and in there I learned that under Hitler’s government, they put the mentally ill away so they would not be in the way of the rest of society. They were also killed in institutions.
Now the middle class patients in this country who also have mental illness are at greater risk of becoming have nots since quality behavioral healthcare has become out of reach for them while low income people especially those without connections are still denied what they really need and therefore have less hope of bettering their lives and are also at greater risk of falling through the cracks of society as well. ObamaCare has not improved this dynamic. Low income people who did not have access to quality healthcare before, still do not have it. The whole system is rigged to keep hurting brokenhearted people excluded from privileged society. There is now less hope for struggling mentally ill people to get well. I am not going to say in every case that people with certain kinds of insurance cannot have access to quality healthcare. It is just becoming more evident that quality mental health care is becoming more out of reach for those who need it to keep functioning at their jobs who have managed to find a career for example (sometimes by the skin of their teeth) or those who need to find some kind of hope for healing to have the best chance of doing what they’ve been created by God to do.
Our system is broken. As are many people who are troubled, hurting and lonely who are at risk of giving up on themselves due to others not caring. I see that everybody is looking out for number #1. Certain people in the healthcare industry do not care about the true needs, hopes, dreams, desires, values of those who are struggling to fulfill their God given longings. It is not unlike people from low income families being unable to afford a college education so they are at greater risk of staying hopelessly in poverty.
So much more could be done for the kingdom of God if the right people got the right services needed to better their lives or to make a difference in the lives of others. There are a lack of services, programs, ministries to give people the hand ups that would truly benefit them. There are people struggling with mental illness due to unresolved hurts that they needlessly went through. Only affluent people are able to access high quality care including mental health treatment. Meanwhile, the people who really need help are being neglected, disrespected, devalued, undermined, unsupported. It appears as though het devil is sucking the life right out of this world. I want to do something about it before it’s too late.
Only a miracle can help my husband now. I am still relying on God to come through for us, for now we are in a position to receive a miracle. I believe God has called us to a life a privilege so we can give the help to others that they really truly need that other organizations, agencies, non profit mental health ministries and especially government sponsored healthcare doctor’s offices may not be willing to give. I promise to God that if He will come to our aid in our time of need, that we will pay it forward it to others and provide help to them to get back on their feet so they can be empowered, lifted up and equipped to do something worthwhile and meaningful for the kingdom of God according to the desires that God placed in their hearts that they otherwise would not get, for God has not called them to a life of poverty or meaninglessness.
journeywithmercy 