Instructions: How many of you have looked at your health care policy and its coverage? If your spouse needs sudden substance abuse treatment, or a teen needs psych intake… are you covered?   Locate your health insurance certificate of coverage; if you do not have health insurance, or you do not wish to share your coverage, locate the health insurance certificate of coverage of a friend or family member. You can also locate the certificate of coverage of a health insurance company in which you are interested; you can often find these certificates online or in paper form.  If a family member required immediate crisis assistance or chemical dependency treatment, are you covered, and for how much? (Note: average cost of treatment 30 days $5,000 to $20,000 depending on the private facility and how you can pay)

Locate the section(s) of the certificate that describes coverage for mental health and chemical dependency.  Are the considered separate or seen as one? 

Post a summary of your findings and how they might affect you.

Examples of information: Type of Insurance, company vs. private etc.

In the section describing the coverage for mental health treatment list how long you can stay:  days – weeks?

Inpatient treatment coverage

Outpatient treatment coverage

Any exclusions, life time benefits?

In the section describing coverage for chemical dependency treatment list:

Inpatient treatment coverage

Outpatient treatment coverage

Any exclusions life time benefits?

Post your conclusions about your coverage; Is it adequate or inadequate, support your response;  think about being in a sudden unpredictable situation, would you know what to do