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Answer`s (2):
1.
Kirsten
1. Insurance doesn't cover service dogs period, not just PSDs.
2. A PSD or any other type of service dog is not a treatment. Perhaps you are thinking of an emotional support animal.
3. Waiting lists are typically 3 years long and owner training is at least 2 years long, assuming you don't have to wash out the dog and start over, which most owner-trainers need to do.
4. They don't cost hundreds, but thousands to produce. The same as any other type of service dog.
5. There is no standardization. Any idiot can hang out a shingle and say he trains service dogs, then bilk the insurance companies for expensive pets that can't even perform the jobs they were purchased to do.
--- edited to add ---
I'll grant that the term "psychiatric service dog" is grossly misused today, but actual PSDs are just as trained as a guide dog or any other sort of service dog, and they perform real tasks, not just emotional support.
But you can't compare them to medication. Medication is a treatment. A service dog is a tool for managing something that is untreatable. A person being treated for an illness is expected to recover and return to productivity. Purely from a financial point of view, an insurance company would rather bet on treating the people who can be cured than spending a lifetime of dollars on managing those who cannot.
The real question isn't why they don't cover PSDs, but why they don't cover mental illnesses to the same extent that they cover physical illnesses.
2. A PSD or any other type of service dog is not a treatment. Perhaps you are thinking of an emotional support animal.
3. Waiting lists are typically 3 years long and owner training is at least 2 years long, assuming you don't have to wash out the dog and start over, which most owner-trainers need to do.
4. They don't cost hundreds, but thousands to produce. The same as any other type of service dog.
5. There is no standardization. Any idiot can hang out a shingle and say he trains service dogs, then bilk the insurance companies for expensive pets that can't even perform the jobs they were purchased to do.
--- edited to add ---
I'll grant that the term "psychiatric service dog" is grossly misused today, but actual PSDs are just as trained as a guide dog or any other sort of service dog, and they perform real tasks, not just emotional support.
But you can't compare them to medication. Medication is a treatment. A service dog is a tool for managing something that is untreatable. A person being treated for an illness is expected to recover and return to productivity. Purely from a financial point of view, an insurance company would rather bet on treating the people who can be cured than spending a lifetime of dollars on managing those who cannot.
The real question isn't why they don't cover PSDs, but why they don't cover mental illnesses to the same extent that they cover physical illnesses.
2.
?
I would say because psychiatric service dogs are not much more than well trained, well behaved pets. They're excellent companions, and there's little doubt about what having them around does for emotional issues, but they don't provide the same help as a blind person's guide dog or a physically disabled assistance dog. I think it's still worth the money.
Doctors in Ada, OK
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OK Heart Hospital Physicians in Ada, OK
1146 N Hills Shopping Ctr, Ada, OK 74820 -
Chickasaw Nation Health Clinic in Ada, OK
1921 Stonecipher Dr, Ada, OK 74820
