Why Should I Consider Private Pay (or Self-Pay) For Therapy?
Finding a therapist can be so hard. You Google “therapist near me” and get inundated with a variety of therapists, with a variety of backgrounds, who charge a variety of rates.
Then you start to go through the pages and realize therapy is expensive. Maybe you have insurance and you wonder “does insurance pay for therapy” and while the answer is yes, you find it almost impossible to find a therapist who takes your insurance.
The reason private pay therapy is becoming so prevalent is largely in an effort to give you the best care possible.
So what’s the deal with private pay for therapy?
The simple answer is that insurance based therapy isn’t the best. Your care plan isn’t actually created based on you or your needs when insurance is in the picture.
It also doesn’t help the practice keep its doors open. For example… our practice takes two insurances, and we sometimes wait up to 9 months for reimbursement. While this isn’t typical, it honestly isn’t out of the ordinary.
So an insurance-based practice really isn’t helpful for either party because:
You need the care that’s best for you—a plan created with your needs in mind.
And the therapy practice needs to be able to cover everything necessary to stay open so that you can receive that care.
How is a therapy care plan with insurance different from one that’s private pay?
Your treatment is dictated by the insurance company and your therapist is accountable to them—instead of you, which is backwards if you ask us.
Here are some examples to paint a picture for you…
A diagnosis that was once covered has been determined to not be medically necessary: claim denied.
You moved offices and insurance hasn’t processed that address change yet: claim denied.
You saw a therapist for individual therapy AND family therapy on the same day: claim denied.
You need to talk to someone because <<gestures around wildly at the state of the world>> but don’t actually qualify for a DSM diagnosis: claim denied.
Your healing shouldn’t be determined by big wigs in an ivory tower—it should be determined by you and your therapist.
If you need multiple sessions in one day, or a session that goes over the 50 minute hour then you should be allowed to have that without conforming to the standards set by a medical model.
Does Foothills Psychotherapy accept insurance?
We will continue to take a few insurances because they are companies that have generally not given us too hard of a time (though all of the examples above are ones we have run into…) but we will remain a mostly private pay therapy practice because we want you to get the care you deserve as determined by your qualified therapist and your qualified self.
That doesn’t mean we don’t try and make therapy more affordable. We occasionally have sliding scale spots (but see the note above about the major costs of therapy). We also partner with a company called Thrizer.
What is Thrizer?
Thrizer allows us to quickly verify your out of network benefits and set you up in their system so you pay only the amount you would have owed after insurance reimbursed you.
Working with Thrizer feels like you have already been reimbursed and you don’t have to front the money each week (after your deductible has been met). We get reimbursed the full amount, so we can make sure the staff are paid a living wage, and you aren’t out hundreds of dollars while you wait for reimbursement.
Start your therapy journey with Foothills Psychotherapy in Burbank, CA
If you are ready to embark on a therapy journey with one of our Burbank, CA therapists, reach out here. Our intake coordinator can confirm your benefits if you are in network with one of the two insurances we take or she can help determine what your out of network benefits are using Thrizer. We will get you set up quickly and put you on the path towards your healing journey.
