Hi silicontrip,
Welcome to the forums and thanks for being here.
I'm sorry to hear your mental health care expired and your GP stopped bulk billing. It frustrates me that costs can be a huge factor to how much care we receive.
There are a few options that I can think of -
- Space out your appointments with your psychologist.
Depending on what sort of therapy you are doing and what you are working through, there may be more practical or self-help related tools you can do during appointments; such as books, online courses, helplines or support groups.
- Look for bulk billing psychiatrists.
Here is a link https://www.yourhealthinmind.org/find-a-psychiatrist You can also search on google "bulk billing" psychiatrist and (your location) to see what pops up. There are a few that do telehealth just incase your location makes it difficult.
- Ask your GP about further funding. I found this thread not long ago; I'm not sure how accurate it is but it could be worth a try
https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/online-forums/treatments-health-professionals-and-therapies/run-out-of-subsidised-sessions-from-my-mhp-any-other-options-
- Switch your GP. Depending on where your GP works all of your notes will be in the system so you won't need to relay what you've told your GP - and you may find there's another GP at the same practice that does bulk bill.
- Talk to your psychologist about it. Sometimes psychologists can either recommend others or lower their fee for financial hardship.
I hope this helps!
Sidenote: what you've said in your post is fine but it is not appropriate to discuss names/places/specific medications.