Why Choose Self-Pay
(Fee for Service)
Initially you may be looking for a psychiatric provider that will bill your insurance directly. However, you may be surprised to learn there are many benefits to not using your insurance.
*At any point in your treatment, you may request a invoice to submit to your insurance company but there is no guarantee they reimburse you.
- Providers that accept insurance are often booked out for months. This can be very frustrating because there is often a notable amount of immediacy for help. The earlier you can treat the problem, the better.
- Insurance companies only pay for services that are considered “medically necessary." This means that in order to use your medical insurance, you must be diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder. Any documented mental health treatment that is filed through your insurance will go on your permanent medical record. This can have a significant impact on your future ability to secure any health insurance coverage at all; if you are able to obtain insurance with this on your record, your insurance premium, deductible, and co-pays are likely to be much higher.
- Using medical insurance for mental health treatment increases the possibility of losing confidentiality. The insurer can audit your records at any time they wish. This means they have full access to your records, including details your provider intentionally did not include in the claim submitted to your insurance company. When you don’t use your insurance, this information remains private. When you use your insurance, your psychiatric diagnosis, as well as your treatment, becomes part of your permanent medical record. If you a hold a high security clearance for a job, are seeking a military or federal job, a political position, an aviation position or any other job that requires health-care checks (many institutions are now screening out employees who may be unstable or cost too much money in mental health treatment and lost work days) or have other reasons you want your information to remain confidential, this is important to know.
- You may end up with a provider that does not have a lot of experience. In the mental health field, many experienced and seasoned providers simply do not take insurance. This is because they don’t have to. Experienced and seasoned providers are specialized and have enough of a following and community reputation that they do not need to acquire patients from "insurance mills." This is certainly not to say that all providers who take insurance are inexperienced, but this may be the case.
- Insurance companies dictate treatment. When you see an in-network provider through your insurance, neither you nor the clinician get to decide how you spend your time in treatment. There is a contract with the insurance company that the provider is required to uphold. The number of sessions is determined by the claims specialist (a non-mental health professional who you have never met and does not know your plight) and is not based on need.
*At any point in your treatment, you may request a invoice to submit to your insurance company but there is no guarantee they reimburse you.