Group Health Insurance
By Gene Aronowitz
When I was living in Chicago in the mid-’60s, I was a practicing social worker at Hull House. I applied for group health insurance. The application asked if I had a history of psychotherapy. I had been in therapy to deal with a variety of issues including an anxiety reaction when speaking in public (See "Panic", difficulty dealing with someone I was supervising, and being exceedingly fearful about retaliation by our landlords (See "The Cold Apartment and My Years in Psychotherapy.") I responded on the application that I had been in psychotherapy as were many of my social work colleagues if only to gain self-awareness in order to be better therapists. My application was rejected because of the history of psychotherapy which was outlandish because the organization sponsoring the plan was the National Association of Social Workers (NASW).
That precipitated my first excursion into social policy advocacy. I complained in an open meeting of the Chicago Chapter of NASW and the Chapter officially objected to the policy. The national organization changed the insurance carrier.
Problem solved.
