Fee

Investing In Yourself

Paying for therapy to try improving your well-being is investing in yourself and your future. Therapy can have long lasting positive benefits.

Cost

Individual Therapy

20-minute consultation FREE

50-60-minute first appointment (Assessment): $170

50- minute all other sessions: $150

Couples Therapy

20-minute consultation FREE

50-60-minute first appointment (Assessment): $210

50-minute all other couples sessions: $190

*Payment for each session is due at the beginning of each session.

**I offer a limited number of sliding scale slots for individuals and couples with financial hardship. The fee on the sliding scale is $100 for individual assessment and for each individual session and $140 for couples assessment and each couples session.

Do you accept insurance?

I Accept Lyra Health but do not accept any other insurance or EAP. However, I can provide you with a monthly superbill. I accept debit, credit cards, Health savings cards (HSAs) and flexible spending account (FSAs) cards.

Superbill: Can I use my out of network benefits?

By calling your insurance provider you can learn whether you have out of network benefits and if you can use them. If you do, I am able to provide you with a monthly document, called a superbill, that contains all the information insurance companies ask for. You can then submit this form to your insurance company for reimbursement. If you are interested in couples counseling, please check with your insurance company to see if they will cover this fee, it often is not covered. *Please note: requesting a superbill means you will need to meet criteria for and be diagnosed with a mental health disorder.

No Surprises Act

You have the right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your medical and mental health care will cost.

Under the law, health care providers need to give patients who don’t have insurance or who are not using insurance an estimate of the expected charges for medical services, including psychotherapy services.

You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate for the total expected cost of any non-emergency healthcare services, including psychotherapy services.

You can ask your health care provider, and any other provider you choose, for a Good Faith Estimate before you schedule a service.

If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you can dispute the bill. Make sure to save a copy or picture of your Good Faith Estimate.

For questions or more information about your right to a Good Faith Estimate, visit www.cms.gov/nosurprises or call 1-800-985-3059.

Why do you not take insurance?

Not taking insurance allows me to provide an enhanced quality of care.

Benefits:

Paying out of pocket allows you to be in control of your care, including choosing your therapist, length of treatment, etc.
Increased privacy and confidentiality (except for limits of confidentiality, more info on this can be found in FAQ section).
Not having a mental health disorder diagnosis on your medical record.
Being able to consult with me on non-psychiatric issues that are important to you that aren’t billable by insurance, such as learning how to cope with life changes, gaining more effective communication techniques for your relationships, increasing personal insight, and developing healthy new skills.
Not taking insurance allows me to have a smaller manageable caseload, allowing me to provide you with a higher quality of care.

What happens when I use my insurance?

Reduced Ability to Choose: Most health care plans today (insurance, PPO, HMO, etc.) offer little coverage and/or reimbursement for mental health services. Most HMOs and PPOs require “preauthorization” before you can receive services. This means you must call the company and justify why you are seeking mental health services in order for you to receive reimbursement. The insurance representative, who may or may not be a mental health professional, will decide whether you will be covered by insurance to see a mental health provider. If authorization is given, you are often restricted to seeing the providers on the insurance company’s list. Reimbursement is reduced if you choose someone who is not on the contracted list; consequently, your choice of providers is often significantly restricted.

Pre-Authorization and Reduced Confidentiality: Insurance typically authorizes several therapy sessions at a time. When these sessions are finished, your therapist must justify the need for continued services. Sometimes additional sessions are not authorized, leading to an end of the therapeutic relationship even if therapeutic goals are not completely met. Your insurance company may require additional clinical information that is confidential in order to approve or justify a continuation of services. Confidentiality cannot be assured or guaranteed when an insurance company requires information to approve continued services. Even if the therapist justifies the need for ongoing services, your insurance company may decline services. Your insurance company dictates if counseling treatment will or will not be covered. Note: Personal information might be added to national medical information data banks regarding treatment.

Potential Negative Impacts of a Psychiatric Diagnosis: I do diagnose individuals when appropriate, however someone is able to receive my counseling services without having a diagnosis, due to being private pay. Insurance companies require clinicians to give a mental health diagnosis (i.e., “major depression” or “obsessive-compulsive disorder”) to be eligible for insurance to cover someone’s mental health services costs. Someone can’t use insurance to only get support with something like improving coping skills or working on reducing stress, without a diagnosis (stress doesn’t count as a diagnosis). Psychiatric diagnoses may negatively impact you in the following ways:

Denial of insurance when applying for disability or life insurance;
Company (mis)control of information when claims are processed;
Loss of confidentiality due to the increased number of persons handling claims;
Loss of employment and/or repercussions of a diagnosis in situations where you may be required to reveal a mental health disorder diagnosis on your record. This includes, but is not limited to: applying for a job, financial aid, and/or concealed weapons permits.
A psychiatric diagnosis can be brought into a court case (ie: divorce court, family law, criminal, etc.).
Some psychiatric diagnoses are not eligible for reimbursement. This is often true for marriage/couples therapy.

After reading my position on why I don’t accept health insurance, you still may decide to use your health insurance. If you need support with finding a provider feel free to give me a call and I can do my best to try connecting you with someone who takes your insurance.

Fee