I’ve heard from many clients (and family members and friends and neighbors, etc, etc.) how expensive therapy is. Well, maybe. It depends on how you think about it. Here are some common questions I hear and my attempt to provide some non-sugar-coated answers.
Q: Why doesn’t anyone take my insurance?
Response: Ah, yes. Good question! Some therapists DO take some insurances. Here’s the truth about insurances: they are usually a serious pain for therapists to work with and the reimbursement rates are poor. Add in the fact that many therapists (if they don’t pay for a biller) have to spend hours on the phone/week simply trying to find out what happened to XYZ claim and why it hasn’t been paid (only to be transferred to other departments and then hung up on), it’s easy to see why therapists don’t want to deal with this.
Also, many insurance panels are “closed,” which means therapists cannot take insurance even if they wanted to. (When I first opened my solo practice in 2017, I tried to get on the major insurance panels in my area, only to be rejected and told “There are too many therapists in your area who already are in-network.” This is untrue based on my google search and many of my client’s personal experiences. Unfortunately, the bottom line is that insurances don’t want to pay for it. )
Q: How will I ever afford therapy?
Response: Well, there are a few options.
- There are still some therapists who do choose to work with insurance companies. You can do a search on Psychology Today and filter by your insurance company OR call your insurance company and ask for a list of in-network therapists.
- You can look for therapists who offer sliding scale/reduced fee sessions. You can find some of these on Open Path Collective. If there is a therapist you want to see, ask him/her if sliding scale is an option (this is usually based on income).
- Do you have “out of network benefits?” You will want to ask your insurance company what your out of network benefits are for mental health. Depending on this, you can see a therapist of your choosing and ask for a receipt from your therapist to then submit to your insurance company. Several of my clients do this and some are reimbursed up to 80%, which turns out to be less than their co-pay would be if they saw an in-network therapist. Interesting, huh?!
- Sometimes this means looking at your budget to see what else you can “cut” (for a short time) while you invest in yourself.
Q: Why is therapy SO expensive?
Response: This question is always interesting to me and I think one of the reasons, at least in part, that we ask this question is because we do not value our mental health. Most people don’t balk at paying a lot of money for their physical health.
Therapists have many costs in keeping a private practice (read: business) up and running. Therapists are also pursuing continuing education opportunities, consulting with other clinicians to better hone their skills, and utilizing HIPAA-encrypted EVERYTHING to ensure your info stays confidential and safe. While these are all good and important things, they also cost money.
I know it can be very frustrating to even find a counselor who is a good fit, so I truly hope this is helpful. I believe that everyone deserves excellent mental health care. A better reframe may be: “What is the cost of my not pursuing therapy?”