Does Insurance Cover Therapy?

It’s complicated… Sometimes, insurances cover psychotherapy. Sometimes they don’t. Some plans have high deductibles, meaning you have to pay for services completely until you have met your deductible before insurance kicks in.

The best way to know if your insurance will cover therapy is to know your specific plan. Do you have a deductible? Copay? Does your insurance pay for out-of-network services (relevant for plans that we are not in-network with)?

We help you with this. We have a billing specialist who knows how to verify insurance details. When you contact us, tell us your insurance carrier, your member ID#, your DOB, and address, and we should be able to verify your plan shortly. We may ask for a photo of your insurance card.

What Insurance Do We Take?

In-Network: We are currently in-network with CDPHP, Optum/UnitedHealthcare, MVP, and Blue Shield of Northeastern NY (which allows us to accept all BCBS plans as in-network, besides Anthem, Empire, and Excellus) . We still need to verify your specific plan, to verify any deductibles and copays (things you have to pay).

Out-of-Network: We don’t accept OON insurances, however, we do provide documentation that you can submit to your insurance company for possible reimbursement. Some plans have great OON benefits and will cover psychotherapy, some have no benefits. If you’re interested in learning more about your OON insurance benefits, please reach out to your provider.

Private Pay and Rates

It is becoming more and more common that people choose to or are forced to pay for psychotherapy without using insurance. We have many patients come to our practice and pay out of pocket for the following reasons:

1) They don’t have insurance or we do not take their insurance

2) Their insurance has a high deductible that they will never meet

3) They do not want to receive a mental health diagnosis (insurances require a diagnosis in order to pay for services)

Regardless of the reason, we accept private-pay. We utilize a sliding scale. Our rate for individual therapy is set at $150/session (50-55 minutes), with a sliding scale down to $110/session. For couples therapy, our rate is $160/session, with a sliding scale down to $120/session. We utilize an honesty policy (whatever a patient says they can honestly afford within that scale).

We prefer credit and debit cards as forms of payment.

Contact us to ask any further questions.