Mental health ‘ghost networks’ — and a ghost-buster

For lots of people, trying to access mental health treatment — like a therapist or a psychiatrist —is nothing short of a horror story. You could even call it a ghost story.

A “Ghost network” is what researchers and journalists call it when your insurance plan offers a list of “in-network” providers that turns out to be bogus. 

Attorney Abigail Burman has studied this haunted phenomenon, and she’s become a part-time volunteer ghostbuster for people in her life. She’s here to share her tactics with us — including some key legal terms that can provide leverage.

Abigail has written up a guide to her strategy, and she’s given us permission to share it. You’ll find it — lightly edited, and with some additional insights from our talk with her, over on First Aid Kit.

Warning: No silver bullets here. It’s still really, really hard. But Abigail has definitely got some hard-won insights we can use. 

Here’s a transcript of this episode. 

Send your stories and questions. Or call 724 ARM-N-LEG.

And of course we’d love for you to support this show.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.