About Insurance
Psychological treatment may be covered by your health insurance. Insurance plans usually place limits on visits and may require authorization in order to access care. Each plan has different limits, co-payments, co-insurance, and authorization requirements.
Typically, on the back of most insurance cards there is a toll free telephone number often listed as "Behavioral Health" or "Mental Health". If you are considering seeking behavioral health treatment, call this number to find out the specifics about your insurance plan benefits, requirements for pre-authorization and co-payment or co-insurance.
Currently I am not on any commercial insurance panels in California. I can provide you with documentation to seek reimbursement from your insurance company as an out-of-network provider, if your insurance provides for such reimbursement.
Drawbacks to Insurance
I believe that in order to grant informed consent for any type of treatment, all health consumers should be aware of the way their health records may be disclosed and under what circumstances.
Although most clinicians do a good job at protecting your confidentiality and hold your health information as privileged, insurance companies unfortunately sometimes to a not-so-good job at protecting your privacy. Ask your insurance company what they do in order to protect your confidentiality.
These days, your medical records are open to a long list of people, if you pay for medical care through your health insurance. First they go to the HMO or insurance company so that the claim can be evaluated. Second, in today’s competitive managed care marketplace, it is likely that your HMO today will be bought by another HMO tomorrow, enlarging the number of people with access to your information. Third, your employer is likely to rebid its insurance contract on an annual basis, changing insurance companies when they can find a lower rate. This means that a whole new set of people will have access to your private information.
If you get your health care through one of the large health care organizations that exist these days, then many of the employees in that organization have potential access to your information. While these organizations develop safeguards for privacy, your privacy is only as good as their safeguards.
Paying out of pocket offers the most protection of your privacy. There are far fewer people who will have access to your information, usually just you and your doctor. This is particularly true if you select one of the growing number of doctors or psychologists who have begun to wean themselves away from managed care.
In addition to enhanced privacy, self-pay enhances the control you and your doctor have over your treatment. No outside authorizations needed and no artificial limits are placed on the choices you and your doctor can make. The best people to make choices about your health care are you and your doctor. When the money comes out of your pocket, your control is maximized. When the money comes from insurance companies, it is their control that holds sway.
One way many people interested in the privacy and control offered by self pay can save money is to restructure their health insurance coverage. They can buy a policy that has a large deductible, but offers coverage in the event of a truly expensive health care crisis. Routine and smaller ticket items can be paid for through what is saved in lower monthly premiums. The logic of this becomes especially clear when you know that up to 20% of today’s health care costs are administrative, largely related to insurance processes. When you eliminate the middle man, that 20% can be used for your health care, not the salary of insurance company executives.
