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Question: Worried about visiting a therapist about drug addiction being on medical history if i use my health insurance?
(Posted by: on 2010-01-22 18:36:51)
I would like to talk to a therapist about some drug addiction and anxieties/ mild depression issues I have been dealing with recently. I have a good job with health insurance, but I am wondering whether I should use my health insurance to pay for therapy. I already know that HIPPA protects me against them sharing my medical history shared with a therapist with current/ future employers. What I'm more worried about is that a "black mark " will be placed on my medical history for the rest of my life that other doctors will be able to see. For example: If I ever legitimately needed narcotic painkillers for some reason in my future, like if I needed a prescription for pain, a doctor might look at my file and just label me as a "substance abuser " and deny me the treatment I need. Am I being paranoid, or is that a possibility? Because I feel like if I did NOT tell the therapist that I have insurance, and just paid the cash rate (I can afford it), then those records would be safe within the walls of my therapist's office & there would be no reason for anyone else to know they even existed, so it wouldn't become a problem for me. But if it's in some health insurance company database, there's a record. And if I needed to switch health insurance companies in the future, maybe they'd look at that and use it to deny me based on a pre- existing condition of some sort. |
