Out-of-Network Mental Health Insurance Coverage
Do you accept health insurance?
No, but you can still use your insurance to reduce your cost significantly. I will help you to use any out-of-network benefits provided by your health insurance carrier. Out-of-network benefits for mental health services vary greatly from one policy to another. Some policies may cover upwards of 60-80% of my fees. I provide you with a written Good Faith Estimate of your total out-of-pocket cost for my services, before insurance reimbursement. Please keep in mind that there are privacy consequences for using your health insurance. If you would still like to use your health insurance to offset the cost of services, my office will provide you with an effective “superbill” that you may then submit to your carrier for reimbursement.
In what insurance panels do you participate as an in-network provider?
In the Spring of 2018, I transitioned my practice to a private pay model and voluntarily resigned from all in-network insurance panels for a variety of ethical and business reasons, including:
- I was regularly forced to turn away in-network patients simply because they preferred to pay cash, rather than turn over their personal information to their carrier/employer.
- When you use your insurance, I am required to document and provide them with a mental disorder diagnosis for you. I believe that providing such labels is not useful to you and, in many cases, may have harmful, lifelong implications for employment, insurance coverage, finances, and overall psychological well-being.
- My time is better spent focused on you and your needs than tending to the insurance business’ needs and all that is required to remain in-network.
- The reimbursement rate of insurance carriers no longer justifies the additional time that is required to obtain my payment from them. In the last quarter of 2017, I spent nearly 10 hours/week attempting to collect my fees from insurance carriers. This time is better spent assisting those in need.