The Costs of Chronic Illness and Therapy

The Economics of Children’s Health

We all want what’s best for our kids. If your child is struggling with any pain or health condition, you will move heaven and earth to help them.

But in reality, we have to consider finances in making decisions for our children and families.

So you might be wondering, how much is this all going to cost?

Costs of Chronic Illness

First, let’s consider what your child’s chronic illness may already be costing you. These are just some of the things that families report to researchers about the financial costs of pediatric chronic pain or illness:

• Medical visits - especially if you keep getting referred to different specialists!

• Expensive medical tests

• Medications

• Any complementary medicine treatments you may try, like acupuncture or chiropractor

• Time off of work for appointments

• Time off of work for school absences when your child doesn’t feel well

• Tutoring to help your child keep up in school despite missing

• Nonrefundable costs of missed activities

In addition, you’re likely concerned about your child’s wellbeing, their own sense of self, missing school and activities, and the impact on your whole family.

Costs of Therapy

Your doctor may recommend that you consider therapy for your child. Hopefully, they are aware of the unique role of pain or health psychology, to help your child and family focus on the overlap between physical and mental health. You also may have found this on your own.

You may wonder, though, how much will it cost me?

Just like there is no one size fits all for therapy, costs for therapy can also vary.

Some therapists or psychologists will work with your health insurance. That means that they will directly bill your insurance for your sessions. It is possible that you may be responsible for part of the fees as well. When you call a clinic, they should walk you through this process and give you an idea of what to expect. Many families prefer to leverage the health insurance resources they already have. However, some families opt to seek private pay options.

Rates for private pay therapists and psychologists will also vary. Some families find that they prefer this option, for several possible reasons.

• Some families prefer to keep their child’s mental health information confidential from their insurance company.

• Not being beholden to the insurance company also means that a private pay therapist or psychologist may be free of labeling your child with a psychological diagnosis.

• Many private pay therapists are more available for their clients or patients

• Private pay psychologists may provide additional services such as collaboration with other healthcare providers, consultation with your child’s school, and pursue other creative ideas.

Net Cost

Research in pain and health psychology actually shows that even when accounting for the additional costs of these services, the net cost for families engaged in psychology and interdisciplinary care often DROPPED! (E.g. Evans et al., 2016, Journal of Pediatric Psychology). One of the biggest contributors to this finding was a huge decrease in how much parents were missing work. Other factors included less days that the children spent as an inpatient in the hospital, fewer visits to the physician, as well as reduced psychology services over time.

Final Considerations

As we can see, though health or pain psychology may pose an initial investment of time, energy, and resources, it can pay off financially in the long-term, and even within a year.

Of course, there are so many other benefits to pediatric health and pain psychology. Children who graduate from such programs usually report that their health conditions interfere less with their lives, and that they experience less anxiety and depression, and that they have developed skills that they can use for life. These translate into long-term life success, with children who graduate from pain psychology programs reporting that they have higher rates of important developmental milestones, like graduating from high school and beyond, in comparison to those who don’t participate.

If you do want to make sure you get the most for your money, here are a few ideas:

• Have a conversation at the beginning of therapy, asking your psychologist for an idea of how many sessions it may take to see progress

  • For example, I always provide a plan for a short course of sessions (e.g. 4-8) where we focus on main goals. Then, we re-evaluate and decide next steps. Often, that means tapering down frequency of sessions toward building full independence!

• Ensure that you regularly check in with your child’s psychologist about progress

• Make sure your child is following through on any homework or tasks assigned between sessions, so that they are making progress even between sessions

• If you are using private pay, here are a few more cost-savings tricks:

  • Ask your psychologist for a Superbill, which you may be able to submit to your health insurance for out of network benefit reimbursement

  • Use your FSA or HSA card

  • Count your spending toward your deductible

  • Click here more information on costs and cost-savings at Pediatric Pain and Behavioral Health

Ultimately, the decision is for you and your family to make together. If you are looking for guidance or to talk things out, please do not hesitate to request a free consultation call. Even if we don’t end up working together, I’ll make sure to do my best to provide you with referrals so that you have some direction for next steps.