Neuropsych covered under mental health insurance?

[free4now]

I had a neuropsych evaluation done earlier this year, prompted by relatively typical issues around memory issues as I get older, and well as lifelong anxiety and depression. In a nutshell, the result was that I'm normal, no major issues.

Now I'm wondering if there is any way to get my insurance to cover this. Anthem high-deductible PPO insurance wants me to pay all the $4k negotiated cost.

I have heard rumblings from various people that it's possible that my insurance might have recently been updated to cover mental health issues to conform to Obamacare standards, even though I remember specifically that it didn't cover such when I started the plan 7 years ago.

I know in theory I should be able to read my plan and see, but in practice it tends to be written in vague legalese that I can't really make much out of.

Anyone know if Obamacare would have required my insurance to have started covering mental health already and where I can find details to try appealing my insurance? Or maybe I should just file an appeal without even trying to do any research?

 

[ER Eddie]

The result was that I'm normal

You should probably get a second opinion.

ha ha.

I would think you'd have to go through the onerous process of calling your insurance company and trying to get straight information out of them...

I can tell you it's generally hard to get most psychological testing covered by insurance. Even when you can, reimbursement rates are very low. There might be an exception for neuropsych testing though, which is a specialized area and usually done for very good medical reasons.

 

[Htown Harry]

Are you sure a neuropsych test is automatically classified as a mental health test by your insurer?

They can be used for diagnosis, differential diagnosis or confirmation of a number of medical situations: stroke, dementia, brain injury, etc.

If the test was in fact ordered for that reason, I'd stick to discussing the memory evaluation with the insurer.

 

[free4now]

I called Anthem and said "I'd like you to explain why you only paid $25 for this several thousand dollar bill", and they said they would send the claims to adjustment and it would take 30 days.

I didn't have to say anything about why they should be adjusted. This is a good reminder to me that it's almost always safer to challenge everything my insurance company does that seems wrong.