cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/21148286

I was kicked off Medicaid at the start of this year and subsequently lost access to my ADHD and depression medication. In February, I moved to a new area and got a new job, but had to wait several months until I qualified for health insurance through it.

After that point, I had to wait for a weekday when I wasn’t working and when I had the mental capacity to tolerate back-to-back disappointing phone calls… all without medication that would make the process significantly easier to tolerate. These are only the calls I’ve made today.

Finally, FINALLY, I have an intake appointment scheduled.

It’s absolutely shameful how much a struggling person is expected to do in order to access basic mental health care.

  • xmunk@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    7·
    17 days ago

    It’s been a few years since I was in the US but can’t a family doctor/gp write scrips for you once you’ve gotten the physche eval? When I last lived there getting a scrip written and filled every month felt like a task designed to make people with ADHD fall off medication first time they slipped up but I could usually get the scrip written by my gp.

    Also, not to make yall jealous but I moved to Canada and HOLY FUCK it’s awesome. I get my meds filled in batches of 90 with a phone appointment (no going into the office), it gets faxed directly to my pharmacy (no losing the fucking paper) and because I am out of country my last fill from my gp was a 180 day supply. I feel like a fucking human who is actually supported by society.

    • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      4·
      17 days ago

      Changing insurance and moving locations means I haven’t got a PCP either. That’s another chain of phone calls I still have to do. 😐

      • xmunk@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        3·
        17 days ago

        Oh, I’m sorry, that’s such a shitty process to go through (it’s even shitty up in Canada). I’ve usually been able to luck my way into one… there’s a hilarious loophole up here where if you lack a gp and see the same doctor in a walk-in clinic enough times you can force them to be your gp whether they’re accepting new patients or not. I accidentally did that when I first moved to Canada because my BCBS VT insurance only had a single doctor in network in Vancouver.

    • LavenderDay3544@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      17 days ago

      Paper? What backwards ass pharmacy did you go to in the US that they didn’t send prescriptions via the internet?

      • xmunk@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1·
        17 days ago

        Well, it was Vermont, and this was more than a decade ago.

        (Does hard math)

        It’s been about fourteen years since I lived in America I think?