Welcome to the Mental Health Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Section. If you do not see the answer to your question please feel free to contact me to ask or if there is something you want further clarification on.
Would I be able to use my health insurance to pay for mental health therapy?
Through Headway, I am currently taking the following insurance: Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross, Carelon Behavioral Health and Cigna.
Patient is responsible for any and all fees not reimbursed by his/her/their insurance company, managed care organization, or any other third-party payor. Patient is responsible for verifying and understanding the limits of his/her/their coverage, as well as his/her/their co-payments and deductibles if applicable.
Important information to know is that insurance companies have policies in place that may impact the therapeutic relationship. From my experience the majority of insurance companies require a specific mental disorder diagnosis and depending on the type/nature may only partially pay for sessions, will not pay for sessions at all, or only pay for a short-term limited number of sessions. It is possible but not guaranteed that insurance companies may make some details of your time in therapy or your personal experiences available to third parties depending on their company policies and what they feel is necessary.
That being said it is your right to make this decision and I will abide by it out of respect for each of my clients or potential clients. I am also not currently a Medicare provider.
If you decide to use your insurance to cover our work together it is your responsibility to check with your insurance plan and find out what if anything they will reimburse you for receiving services with an out-of-network provider. In this case you would be responsible for the payment of the fees at the time of each session and I will provide you with a bill that will include your mental health diagnosis and appropriate treatment codes as per the most recent version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The next step would be to submit that bill with the treatment codes to your insurance company to reimburse you for the cost of services. I cannot promise that your insurance company will do so.
Forms of Payment Accepted if Paying Out of Pocket.
1. Cash: A receipt or Invoice will need to be sent to you.
2. Check: A receipt or Invoice will need to be sent to you.
3. Credit/Debit card (e.g. Visa, Mastercard, American Express & Discover). This information is input into the secure apple square app which will generate a receipt for you.
NOTE: There is a fee for using credit cards. This means that a $185.00 session paid by credit/debit card through apple square would come to approximately $191.63 for the session.
How Often Should I Come In?
Most client’s come in once per week at a specific date and time to build a good therapeutic rapport and flow. It is your decision, as the client, to decide how many sessions per week, month, etc. and at what frequency.
How Can I Estimate Therapy Costs?
On the informed consent document you will be sent it lists the cost of therapy per session and this will be agreed to before therapy sessions begin.
You are entitled to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” of what the charges could be for psychotherapy services provided to you. While it is not possible for a psychotherapist to know, in advance, how many psychotherapy sessions may be necessary or appropriate for a given person, this form provides an estimate of the cost of services provided. Your total cost of services will depend upon the number of psychotherapy sessions you attend, your individual circumstances, and the type and amount of services that are provided to you.
There may be additional items or services recommended as part of your care that must be scheduled or requested separately and are not reflected in this good faith estimate. This estimate is not a contract and does not obligate you to obtain any services from the provider(s) listed, nor does it include any services rendered to you that are not identified here.
You have the right to initiate a dispute resolution process if the actual amount charged to you substantially exceeds the estimated charges stated in your Good Faith Estimate (which means $400 or more beyond the estimated charges).
For questions or more information about your right to a Good Faith Estimate or the dispute process, visit, the Medical Bill Rights website, or call 1-800-985-3059. The initiation of the patient-provider dispute resolution process will not adversely affect the quality of the services furnished to you.
The fee for a 50-minute psychotherapy visit (in-person or via telehealth) is $185-$250 on a sliding scale. This does not include the fee of the apple square use which is 3.5% of the fee plus $0.15 per session. This means that a $185.00 session paid by credit/debit card through apple square would come to approximately $191.63 for the session.
Most clients will attend one psychotherapy visit per week, some as few as twice per month, but the frequency of psychotherapy visits that are appropriate in your case may be more or less than once per week, depending upon your needs. Based upon a fee of $185.00 per visit, if you attend one psychotherapy visit per week, your estimated charge would be $740.00 for four visits provided over the course of one month. If you attend therapy for a longer period, your total estimated charges will increase according to the number of visits and length of treatment.
Where Can I Find Information About Your Office Policies and Practices?
I will send each of my clients a copy of my informed consent document to review and we will then go over the informed consent document line by line during the first session to address any questions you may have prior to signing it. You can also find a copy on the Client/Patient forms page.
For more information or clarification please contact me via the contact us link, email me or text my office at (818) 495-4073.
Wellness Care Associates 