2023 Unpaid Client Balances

 

As 2023 comes to a close, we are celebrating our second full year in operation. In 2023, we expanded our team to include 4 new clinicians, and greatly increased the number of clients we are able to see. We also moved into an office space in downtown Holyoke, where we meet with clients in-person. Starting and expanding a co-op owned by workers, not investors, is expensive! That is why we're turning to our communities and connections to help us close out the year and write off client debts for 2023.  

As a worker-owned mental health worker cooperative, we aim to make decisions about how we provide care in a way that is aligned with our pro-worker, anti-capitalist values. We primarily work with clients who utilize MassHealth (Massachusetts state Medicaid) for insurance coverage, because providing care to low-income people is essential to our practice of liberationist mental health care. Operating a practice where revenue is generated mainly from insurance claims comes with a variety of challenges. Insurance companies profit from creating inefficient systems that are not user friendly to clients and providers. They make it difficult for providers to accept insurance and create unnecessary barriers to receiving payment for services rendered. We have witnessed MassHealth in particular switch clients' insurance plans without notifying them. Clients and providers are then responsible for fighting for reimbursement, which in many cases negatively impacts the mental health of everyone involved. It also decreases the amount of time providers can spend supporting clients and leads to burnout. As a result, we have many clients with an unpaid balance that we would like to take care of for them, as it is not aligned with our values to demand payment from people who cannot afford to pay. Help us reach our end-of-year goal so we can continue the work we are doing to take care of each other.  You can learn more about our co-op at catalystch.com, and please email [email protected] with any questions!

Alex Rodriguez

Brittany Mendez

Clara Wagner

Cress Horton

Hannah Caruso

Marina Kantarovich Rodriguez

Megan Townsend-Albright

Catalyst Cooperative Healing