Paying for Therapy

Last time I wrote about the benefits of choosing teletherapy or virtual therapy over traditional in-person therapy. In this post, I want provide reasons you may want to pay for therapy out of pocket instead of through your health insurance. This can seem overwhelming when considering the cost of therapy, but the inconsistencies and restrictions that come with health insurance make the cost worth it in many cases. Therapists give lots of thought and consideration before making this decision for their practice. Ultimately, I decided to not accept insurance because I want my client’s to have complete control over their therapy options.

Our heathcare sytem is broken

In many cases, your employer is the one who determines which insurance options are available to you, and you are then subjected to limited options for in-network providers (such as therapists or primary care physicians) and limited coverage that you have very little control over. Every year during open enrollment you learn whether your employer has decided to keep the same insurance options or to change them. Or maybe you’re faced with a whole new insurance plan because you’ve made a change in employment. These changes in plans are often inconsistent with the healthcare providers and coverage you’ve gotten used to working with, so you find yourself searching for new providers and figuring out new treatment options. This can be frustrating and even detrimental to progress when you’ve been working with the same therapist for several months and have to stop seeing them because of a change in insurance coverage.

It’s expensive.

You’re also responsible for paying the monthly premiums for these healthcare plans and other out-of-pocket expenses like co-pays and deductibles. (It seems like one of my milestones of reaching adulthood was finally understanding concepts like “premiums” and “deductibles.”) Sometimes you’re fortunate enough to have an insurance plan where you can make your monthly payments AND meet your deductible without creating any financial hardship. Often, folx find themselves paying a good portion of their paychecks toward health insurance then unable afford the co-pay to see the doctor or therapist, especially if they have multiple dependents on their healthcare plan. Having a high monthly premium or copay can keep people from utilizing therapy services.

It’s restrictive.

You’re also limited to the treatments and services approved by your health insurance plan. In theory this would protect the consumer from inappropriate or ineffective medications and treatments, but in reality it restricts a provider’s ability to meet the consumer’s needs. Health insurance puts restrictions on what type of mental health problems they cover, what types of treatments they cover, and time frames for those treatments. These kinds of limitations cannot meet the complex needs of people who do not fit into neat little boxes. When you pay for therapy yourself, you don’t have to worry about all these restrictions.

It’s inconvenient.

So what happens when the insurance plan your employer offers is too expensive or does not provide the access to care that meets your personal needs? It’s very difficult to obtain health insurance through other means when your company offers it to its employees. I once had a job that was based in another state so the closest in-network provider was 90 minutes away, and the out of network costs were outrageous. I declined the health insurance thinking I could be added to my spouse’s insurance through their job… Nope. It wasn’t an option since my employer OFFERED health insurance. I thought I could enroll through the healthcare marketplace… Nope. Again, I was not eligible due to my company OFFERING health insurance. I ended up having to pay a fine for not having healthcare coverage that year. It is important to be able to make your own choices about what kind of treatment you’d like to receive.

What if you’re uninsured or underinsured?

What if you’re unemployed? Working part-time? Working as a contractor or another job that doesn’t provide insurance (like cleaning houses or babysitting)? Again, it seems like people in these situations have very few options. Many people in these situations simply go uninsured and *hope* they don’t need to go to the doctor. In 2018, the percentage of uninsured non-elderly individuals in Mississippi was 14.5% (compared to the national average of 10.4%). That’s 351,794 individuals in Mississippi without healthcare coverage. https://www.kff.org/statedata/election-state-fact-sheets/mississippi

Pay for therapy yourself.

My goal is simply to provide quality therapy services in a way that gives my clients the power to prioritize mental health. I believe that every person has the right to make their own choices about their mental health care, including what problems they want to address, whether they want a formal diagnosis on their health records, and what treatment options may be right for them. I am able to give my clients this power by choosing to not work with insurance companies.

You have the power to prioritize your mental health.

Many of the issues with health insurance are related to affordability. A $70 co-pay is much more affordable than a $140 therapy session. When that is your only option, you have to do what you have to do. There are many excellent therapists in-network with major insurance companies in the state of Mississippi. If you choose to go this route, contact your insurance company for a list of in-network providers. However, if you want control over your mental health care (and can afford it) then paying for therapy services yourself may be the best option for you.

*If you do not have health insurance and want to pay for therapy out of pocket at a sliding-fee rate, you can apply to become a member of Open Path Collective at https://openpathcollective.org/

**Most therapists have a limited number of sliding-fee rate clients and you may have to go on a waitlist or spend more time looking for a therapist who can accept you as a sliding-fee client.

Ready to get started?

If teletherapy sounds like it might be right for you, please reach out to schedule your free fifteen-minute consultation by calling 662-200-4210 or clicking the “schedule an appointment” button.

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