Insurance
Currently, I am an “out-of-network” provider, which means that I don’t directly submit claims or take payments from insurance companies. However, a lot of insurance policies have an out-of-network benefit that allows you to submit a special receipt, called a “Superbill,” for partial reimbursement. You can call your insurance company to ask them for how your policy works in this case. To help you get started, below is a little bit of information about the two most common types of insurance plans, these days.
Preferred Provider Organization (PPO plan)
Typically, this type of insurance gives you the freedom to go to any medical professional you would like to see without getting a referral from your primary care physician first. The advantage of these plans are that, if there is a provider that is not in your insurance network but has the skills/experience that you are looking for, you can still go to see them and submit the receipt to your insurance company for a partial reimbursement.
Generally, people who come to see me have this kind of plan because they can still use their insurance benefits.
For a better understanding about how a PPO plan tends to work when it comes to in-network and out-of-network providers, you may want to read my Understanding Co-Insurance and Deductibles article. I also have an interactive Co-Insurance Estimator that you may want to play around with. (Always call your insurance company to inquire about your individual plan.)
If you have had a significant amount of medical expenses this year, you may benefit from understanding how the out-of-pocket maximum limitations work. Check out my Deductibles, Co-Insurance, and Out-of-Pocket Max article.
Health Maintenance Organization (HMO plan)
Typically, you need to obtain referrals from your primary care physician to go to see almost any kind of medical professional besides your primary. Most people with HMO’s elect to go to a provider who is in their network, rather than coming to see me, because their insurance company won’t reimburse at all for the money they pay me.
Rates
A Word About My Rates – I graduated with my master’s degree in 1992, so I have many years of professional and life experience under my belt. I work hard to be at the top of my profession so that I can do the best job possible for my clients. Considering myself to be a life-long learner, I search out quality training on an on-going basis so that I can continue to hone my skills. My clients report to me that they feel I “accept them for where they are,” support and understand them, and provide quality information and guidance to help them understand themselves better and build their skills. In other words, I believe that you will find investing in my services for the benefit your mental health will be worth it.
After the free phone consultation, my rates are…
- $120 – *45 min session
- $150 – 60 min session or
- $160 – Initial 75 min intake
- $40 per 75 min group session, for Social Groups and $50 per 90 min group session, for Anxiety Groups (see Anxiety Groups page or Social Groups page for details, as each group is structured slightly differently.)
- As noted on the Social Groups page, payments for these groups are to be made in advance for entire 8 week session, regardless of ability to attend. Because it is clinically best for the group size to remain small size, it’s important to prioritize attendance and your advanced payment is your commitment to attend.
- Reduced rates for individual sessions are available – See next section, below, for details
After the initial intake session, for the most part, I leave it up to the individual about whether they prefer a 45-minute or 60-minute session. If I feel that we are having some issues around the amount of time we have committed to per session, it’s something we can discuss together, along the way.
* Note: People whose lives are are significantly limited/controlled by extreme panic attacks will need a period of 2-3 months of weekly, 60-minute sessions. There is a powerfully effective form of treatment (based on my experience and as found by a large number of scientific studies), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). CBT is a tool that can be used to treat a variety of symptoms. Once your CBT plan has been customized to meet your unique needs and progress is starting to happen, we then can drop back to 45-minute sessions. The good news is that this system works so well, assuming that you are ready to do the work and follow-through with your homework assignments, that when change starts to happen, it’s an incredibly exciting thing to see, both for you and for me!
Reduced rates are available
If you are experiencing financial stress, unemployment, disability or full-time student status, let me know. You don’t have to be “poor” to talk to me about my rate. It was not long ago that I, myself, benefited from reduced rates from out-of-network providers, so I know what that is like. Please
do not hesitate to let me know BEFORE YOUR APPOINTMENT if any of these conditions apply to you and we will look at what your expenses would be if you went to an in-network provider and then discuss an option that is affordable. I do want to get paid for the work I do. However, as best I can,
I do not like finances to get in the way of people getting the quality support that they need. (I do have a limited number of spots available at my reduced rate. Please speak to me for details.)
Methods of Payment
I accept cash, checks, and credit cards (including Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, JCB, Diner’s Club and EnRoute) and
some debit cards (Visa or MasterCard only).
