Affordable Health Insurance is very hard to get nowadays , but if is even worse if you need mental health care. If you have health insurance, my suggestion would be for you to call your insurance company and ask them for a written description of what coverage is provided for behavioral health problems and treatments. You may have to get a referral from your regular doctor before you can receive services. Some employers have an employee assistance program to help people if they are having problems in their life. Everything is confidential and really can help before something serious happens. A lot of mental health problems are caused by physical problems that people aren’t aware that they have.

You may want to seek mental health care if stress, job-related tension or interpersonal troubles are interfering with your daily life. If you have mental anguish because of an medical condition to the point that you have thoughts of hurting yourself or committing suicide then you need to get to a duly quaIified doctor immediately. You should seek treatment for substance abuse if using legal or illegal substances if it is negatively affecting your health and/or your daily life. Before you feel that you can no longer cope with the situation you should seek care as soon as possible. These problems are just as treatable and important as medical problems.

You can also contact your state‘s mental health program to find out what programs they have to help with your problems and how they are funded. Your Social Services office should be able to get you the information that you need.

Again, finding good affordable health insurance is up to you, the consumer, but there are people out there that can and will help you --- all you have to do is ask.

Please don’t keep procrastinating until your depression, stress, alcoholism or substance abuse is out of hand and you are stuck out in the cold.