Health Insurance Blog

To call it insurance benefits may be a lie. In the end, like a casino, the insurance company will benefit much more than you, even though you’re the one paying to play.

Most people these days think twice before submitting a claim to repair damage to their car after an accident, especially if it is not that much damage. Filing a claim from an auto accident can damage you with the insurance company because they may raise your rates for using the insurance you’ve been paying for.

Filing a claim to have your counseling covered can be even more damaging to you and your future

I. Some mental health issues make your rates go up or even be the cause to deny you coverage in the future.

II. All information collected about you and your family by your counselor can end up in insurance companies’ databanks. There are three or four of these national databanks to which all insurance companies funnel data on their clients and their claims. Future claims or applications for coverage with any insurance company will use this information to determine your insurability. This includes car insurance, life insurance, additional health coverage and disability insurance. Security clearance procedures also have access to this personal data on you.

III. Your privacy and confidentiality rights can be violated once you give permission to release personal information to your insurance company. You have no control over how this information will be used.

IV. Mental health counseling records are stigmatizing. Job recruiting and promotion processes often ask if you have had counseling or mental health treatment. Insurance claims obviously establish paper trail evidence that cannot be denied. This may seem illegal, but many interviews solicit this information and are not reprimanded. Once it becomes known that you have had certain struggles in your life such as alcohol abuse, sexual issues or depression, you can become discriminated against in negative and harmful ways.

Word to the wise: give it a second thought before you establish an official record with your insurance company by filing a mental health counseling claim. There are many alternatives including negotiating a lower rate with your counselor that you can manage out of pocket. Many agencies use sliding scales to establish counseling fees.

Better to take out a loan than to hawk your future privacy and success.