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Individual Sessions
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Less Confidentiality
Your therapist is required to keep everything you say confidential. When you use insurance to pay for therapy, your therapist is required to provide your diagnosis and possibly treatment notes to your insurance company in order to get paid. This undermines the basic premise of therapy and also gives a lot more people access to private health information about you.
Higher Insurance Premiums
Even if you’re okay with your information being shared with your insurance company from a confidentiality standpoint, you probably didn’t realize that sharing this information can have unintended consequences in the future.
As mentioned above, your therapist has to provide your insurance company with your diagnosis to get paid. But what if you don’t have a mental illness? After all, many people seek therapy for personal growth and exploration, not because they are depressed or anxious or have a serious mental illness.
In the eyes of your insurance company, these are not valid reasons for seeking therapy on their dime. If you don’t have an actual diagnosis, they aren’t interested in paying for your sessions and will not continue to authorize future sessions. This forces the therapist to give you a diagnosis that you do not have.
This puts your therapist in an awkward and ethically challenging position. When it comes time to renew your insurance or switch plans, your premiums could rise as a result of your diagnosis or “pre-existing condition.” In addition, you may be required to share your diagnosis in future job interviews, which is awkward, to say the least.
As mentioned above, your therapist has to provide your insurance company with your diagnosis to get paid. But what if you don’t have a mental illness? After all, many people seek therapy for personal growth and exploration, not because they are depressed or anxious or have a serious mental illness.
In the eyes of your insurance company, these are not valid reasons for seeking therapy on their dime. If you don’t have an actual diagnosis, they aren’t interested in paying for your sessions and will not continue to authorize future sessions. This forces the therapist to give you a diagnosis that you do not have.
This puts your therapist in an awkward and ethically challenging position. When it comes time to renew your insurance or switch plans, your premiums could rise as a result of your diagnosis or “pre-existing condition.” In addition, you may be required to share your diagnosis in future job interviews, which is awkward, to say the least.
Insurance-Driven Treatment Plan
When therapists take insurance, they are required to use treatment methods that are covered by your plan. This means they have less say in how to treat you based on your specific and individual needs. Ironically, the people who work in your insurance company and decide which methods of therapy can be used, are usually not even therapists! And they certainly haven’t met and assessed you personally like your therapist has.
You Can Submit To Your Out Of Network Benefits
If you choose to use insurance; I can provide what is called a "superbill" for you to submit to your insurance for reimbursement. You will pay your therapist for the sessions up front but your insurance company will reimburse you for some of the session fees. Not every insurance plan has this benefit but it’s definitely worth a phone call to ask!
The other option is that you can use your Health Savings Account (HSA) or Flexible Spending Account (FSA) to pay for therapy.
This allows you to save money because you are paying with pre-tax dollars.
Follow the simple steps to find out if your insurance plan will cover your costs with out of network benefits.
The other option is that you can use your Health Savings Account (HSA) or Flexible Spending Account (FSA) to pay for therapy.
This allows you to save money because you are paying with pre-tax dollars.
Follow the simple steps to find out if your insurance plan will cover your costs with out of network benefits.
- Call the customer service number on the back of your insurance card.
- Ask if you have out of network benefits for mental health.
- If such benefits are available, ask what percentage of each visit will be covered, what is the deductible that must be met before coverage, what information is needed from the provider, and the address to mail invoice/superbill for each visit.
- Ask your therapist for a "superbill" after each visit.
- Submit all required information to your insurance company for reimbursement.
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