Man, Therapy is NOT Cheap!

Ginny Kang
Nov 1 · 2 min read
Photo credit: National Alliance on Mental Illness

My insurance (Medi-Cal) covers mental health obviously, which is good. However, I just found out the only referrals they can give me are a couple hours away where my parents live, since that’s my “permanent residence”. The woman who told me this said that in order to find therapists near my current location I would have to call the Medi-Cal number she gave me, make the change, which then would take a month to sort out.

So that’s when I remembered that Michael Phelps did several commercials for TalkSpace, which is professional therapy for introverts. The cheapest option is $65/week (billed as $260/month). I make $18/hour, but I don’t work as often as I used to, so while $18 is the most I’ve made at a job, that’s not a lot when you only work a few hours a week. If I do this, it’ll most likely be on my credit card, which my parents already pay for.

You wanna know what else is on my credit card? My Clipper card. (For those of you who don’t live in the Bay Area, it’s the main pass for public transportation and it gets automatically refilled.) And you know what else I use my credit card for? Groceries.

[Insert anxious thoughts and lack of self-worth here.]

Help me out here, friends. I need assistance in figuring out my dilemma. What’s more important? Straightening away the address on the insurance card, causing a delay on my treatment, which saves me I don’t even know how much…or going ahead with a TalkSpace subscription? Keeping in mind that the only thing I want to get out of this is figuring out how I can finally move on with my life: build a career, have friends, start my own family. I want my answers NOW.

Thoughts?

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