Payment Information
I accept private pay only for therapy. My rates are $160 for an initial assessment and $135 for an hour-long follow up therapy session. I accept credit cards, HSA and flex accounts, and checks as means of payment. I provide superbills so my clients can seek out of network reimbursement from their insurer.
As a social worker, I feel conflicted about not accepting insurance as I am aware using insurance absolutely increases access to care. For those of you who also feel conflicted about this, I've provided information below regarding my rationale. Additionally, in part to balance the decision not to take insurance, I have committed to donate 10% of proceeds to underserved populations (see the section on supported charities).
Many therapists who accept insurance find that they spend a (not insignificant) portion of their time chasing payments they are owed. Clarifying billing concerns with an insurance company can mean hours-long hold times being transferred among representatives, conflicting information from different representatives, and months-long delays in payment. At times it means you, the client, have to call the insurance company and also participate in that process.
Insurance companies engage in “clawbacks,” which means they can take back previously paid money on grounds of a technicality (their error, or a perceived error on my part). This can happen over a year past the initial date of payment.
Insurance companies have become increasingly brazen in dictating care. In previous settings where I have accepted insurance, I have received letters from contractors for at least one insurance company telling me I charge for 60 minutes of therapy (rather than 45 minutes) more frequently than other local providers, with a promise to “follow up for education on my services” if I continued offering primarily hour-long sessions. In previous settings, I have received rejections on claims from insurance companies because they, without meeting or interviewing myself or my client, rejected the diagnosis I had made in my intake assessment.
Social work upholds access to care and it also upholds dismantling oppressive systems. While I obviously cannot single-handedly tear down a system which commodifies therapy, undervalues therapists, and dictates care, I can elect not to participate. And I can give you a superbill for out of network reimbursement.