Does My Health Insurance Cover Therapy

Online Peer Support Chats

Here’s how your health insurance may help cover the cost of Therapy for Teens

If youd like to chat with people who know what youre going through, support groups are the way to go. Ideally, you want a support group where theres no fear of judgment, and where you dont have to jump through hoops to join.

One example is Supportiv, which provides on-demand, low-cost, and highly accessible mental health support for all mental health concerns. Supportiv has been featured by Mens Health, Oprah Magazine, and as a winner in the 2019 South By Southwest Pitch competition.

The first 24 hours are free for anyone, and its a good place to go if you need to talk, but arent yet sure about using your insurance for clinical care.

We hope this guide has helped you find options for your mental health care. Best of luck to you on your mental health journey.

Does My Insurance Plan Cover Therapy

Whether you have a marketplace insurance plan or one offered to you through your employer, it is important to contact the company directly to see what behavioral health or mental health services are included under your plan. To figure out what resources your plan includes, contact your insurance companys human resources representative or call the insurance company directly to ask about your specific plan.

Heres The Thing Therapy Works

Deciding to see a therapist can seem like a daunting task, especially considering the cost and the complicated world of health insurance. However, the benefits of therapy cannot be overstated its been proven to reduce depressive symptoms, and can provide a safe space for you to learn more about yourself. So if you feel like your mental health is having a significant impact on your life, consider looking into therapy. It can be scary, but in the end, it may be worth it.

The greatest benefit of therapy is honestly just the self-exploration and the self-awareness that comes with it, and I think thatâs something that everyone can use, Lindsey said.

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Can Health Insurance Not Pay What Does It Cover

If your health insurance provider is exempt from the MHPA regulations or if your health plan doesn’t offer insurance benefits, yes, you may be denied coverage. It’s important to note that not all providers can accept your insurance. Contact your health plan provider to learn if your health insurance covers mental health treatment, or contact your therapists office to see if they accept insurance.

What Mental Health Care Services Are Covered By Aca

Does My Health Insurance Cover Mental Health Treatment ...

All ACA-compliant plans should include mental health insurance coverage as an essential health benefit. Your plan should cover some part of the cost for mental health care, just as it would for other medical conditions. If you think your plan is denying you covered mental health insurance coverage, talk with your plan provider or write a formal appeal.

All ACA plans must cover the following mental health care services:

Behavioral treatment , including:
Outpatient individual counseling or group therapy sessions
Diagnostic services, such as psychological testing and evaluation services
Ongoing outpatient treatment, including psychiatric treatment programs and medication management therapy

Substance use disorder treatment, including:

Outpatient diagnostic and treatment services for alcohol or chemical dependency

Medical services for withdrawal symptoms, such as inpatient detoxification services

Substance abuse recovery services, including counseling and education resources

Mental and behavioral health inpatient services

This covers inpatient mental health care if youre hospitalized at a psychiatric facility.

Mental Health Services Typically Covered By Insurance

Although treatment coverage varies tremendously, one thing remains consistent: for health insurance to cover therapy, it must be medically necessary. So, you can get mental health services like:

Psychiatric emergency visits
Outpatient sessions with psychiatrists, clinical social workers, and clinical psychologists
Online therapy
Medication-assisted treatment

The extent of coverage for specific mental health treatment, such as the length of rehab or number of outpatient visits, varies from plan to plan. So does the coverage and out-of-pocket cost for any medications you might need to treat your condition, both as an inpatient and outpatient.

Do I Need To See My Doctor Before Visiting A Blue Cross Blue Shield Therapist

If you need to see your primary care doctor before visiting a Blue Cross Blue Shield therapist depends on your insurance plan type:

HMO or POS plan: Yes, you are typically required to see your primary care physician for a referral to therapy before Blue Cross Blue Shield will pay for services
PPO or EPO plan: No, you typically dont need to see your primary care physician for a referral to therapy before Blue Cross Blue Shield will pay for services.

This referral requirement is also called pre-authorization . Pre-authorization is a process where a health provider, in this case your therapist, must get approval from your insurance company before providing you with care in order for the services to be covered. Your Summary of Benefits should indicate whether you need pre-authorization for outpatient mental health services.

Note: While Blue Cross and Blue Shield is often referenced as one entity, The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association is in fact composed of 36 locally operated companies. While the following guide provides an overview of Blue Cross Blue Shield therapy coverage, its important to check your specific plan, as each regional affiliate, and within those, each plan, has a unique level of coverage.

Find therapists in-network with Blue Cross Blue Shield

Couples Counseling How It Really Works

If you want couples counseling, someone is getting a diagnosis.

This is where things can get tricky. Some insurance providers claim they offer coverage for couples therapy, but there is more to the story. When your therapist bills for treatment, they use two pieces of information: the type of session and the mental health diagnosis . However, no billing code exists for couples or marital therapy.

For example: John and Gale come to couples counseling. John and Gale both have the same insurance so one of them becomes the identified client. This person is given the diagnosis. The therapist bills the insurance provider using this diagnosis and the code that indicates Family therapy with patient present.

There is another, different type of code called, Problems in Relationship with Spouse or Partner. However, this code is routinely rejected by insurance companies for not being considered medically necessary.

Insurance companies may very well believe couples counseling is a great idea, theyre just not going to pay for it.

So where does this leave John and Gale and their therapist? Well, lets say they picked Gale as the identified client. This means Gale has to be present for every session, and John can attend as support and, according to the insurance company, the focus of treatment should be on Gales mental health diagnosis.

Here again, we run into ethical considerations for the therapist.

Does Your Insurance Pay For Telehealth Therapy

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Whether or not your insurance will pay for online therapy sessions, and how much, depends on your insurance company. Benjamin Sommers, M.D., Ph.D., professor of health policy and economics at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a primary care physician, said during a conference call that Medicare and Medicaid will cover telehealth services. Otherwise, the decisions are made plan by plan.

To find out if your insurance company will pay for online therapy sessions, check with your therapist first. If theyve been billing your insurance company for appointments, they likely have already been sorting this out with the insurance company. They can let you know what to expect or help you figure out what to do next.

You can also call your insurance company directly and ask about their coverage during COVID-19 for online therapy, including how much you will be expected to pay. Americas Health Insurance Plans has compiled a list of what most insurers in the United States have said about coverage during COVID-19, which may give you some additional insight on what to expect.

This is a big problem. The solutions are not as straightforward, Dr. Sommers said. Making sure that people can afford care again and paying providers to offer those telemedicine services is important.

For other resources on how to cope with your mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, check out this article.

What Do I Need To Do To Use My Insurance Coverage

For Blue Cross or ASEBP coverage we need the following information: your name as known by your insurer, insurance number , your group number, and date of birth.

For Canada Life we need: your name as known by your insurer, id number, policy number, and date of birth.

For Green Shield we need the following information: your name as known by your insurer, carrier , and plan member ID.

For Criterion Group we need your name as known by your insurer, and your plan number ID. As Criterion Group does not cover the full cost of service there may be an additional direct billing charge.

For ISC we need your name as written on your Treaty Status Card, Treaty Status number, current address, current phone number, date of birth.

For the Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Supports Program we need: your legal name, your current address, current phone number, date of birth, the dates you attended a residential school and the name of the Residential School. If you were not the attendee, then we need the name of the spouse or relation who attended the Residential School, name of the school, and dates of attendance.

Insurance providers often decline to cover missed sessions. Missed sessions must be paid for by the client unless the therapist chooses to waive the fee.

Is Therapy Covered By Insurance

Does Insurance Cover Therapy?

Have you been putting off getting therapy because you cant figure out how to pay for it, or are not sure what your insurance will cover? Youre not alone. Many people have been avoiding getting therapy because they they cant afford coverage or arent too familiar with what their insurance will cover. While this may have been true in the distant past the good news is that this is no longer the case. There are a variety of options for paying for therapy, including using mental health insurance, which can cover this as a benefit.

If youre ready to start attending therapy, some of the most common questions people want the answer to are Is therapy covered by insurance? and What does my insurance cover? In some instances, there are health insurance coverage options available for therapy. Major health insurance coverage providers like Blue Cross Blue Shield even cover online therapy as a part of their behavioral health services. In cases where therapy isnt covered by insurance, there are other affordable options available.

In this article, well discuss the ins and outs of online therapy insurance, whats included in online therapy insurance coverage, learn how insurance works and what it covers, and highlight options that cover therapy for no insurance.

Understanding The Law Behind Health Insurance Coverage: The Mental Health Parity Act Of 2008

Is There Health Insurance For Online Therapy Specifically?

How Does Insurance Cover Therapy?

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How Do I Check If My Blue Cross Blue Shield Plan Covers Therapy

To check whether your Blue Cross Blue Shield plan covers therapy, look for the Outpatient Mental Health line item on your Summary of Benefits. Therapy is considered a type of outpatient mental health service. You can find your Summary of Benefits by logging into your Blue Cross Blue Shield Member Services portal , calling member services, or checking your employers benefits portal.

Here is an example of what your Blue Cross Blue Shield Summary of Benefits may look like, and where to find the Outpatient Mental Health line item:

If the Outpatient Mental Health line item indicates that these services are not covered, then your health insurance plan does not cover therapy services.

If you cannot find coverage information for Outpatient Mental Health, contact your local Blue Cross Blue Shield Member Services, or if you receive health insurance through your employer, reach out to your employers human resources department.

While your Blue Cross Blue Shield plan likely covers therapy, the extent of coverage and requirements for coverage depend on your particular plan. Read on to learn more.

Required Mental Illness Diagnosis

One of the main reasons that therapists and mental health clinics decline the use of insurance is that insurance companies typically only cover services that are declared as a medical necessity. In other words, your clinician is required to diagnose you with a mental illness in order for the services to qualify for coverage under insurance.

With the ups and downs in life that many people go through every day, many people seek mental health treatment for reasons that are not defined by a specific mental health disorder. If the reason that you are seeking a therapist is not a diagnosable disorder, like OCD or BiPolar Disorder, then it can be quite difficult to get your insurance to cover the sessions..

Being that many people go to therapy to repair relationships, recover from a traumatic experience or just generally to improve their lives, finding a medical diagnosis is often not applicable. As frustrating as this can be for patients, it would be unethical for a therapist to diagnose someone with a mental illness that they dont really have, just for the sake of using insurance and doing so can result in the therapist losing their license.

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My Insurance Covers Out Of Network Providers What Do I Need To Do Get Reimbursed For Psychotherapy Services

If your health plan covers out of network providers for mental health services and you are seeing a mental health provider who does not accept your insurance, complete your insurance claim form and submit it along with the mental health providers invoice to get reimbursed. If you are unsure about your health plans claim procedures for out of network providers, contact your insurance company.

Is Child Speech Therapy Covered By Insurance

Private pay patients do not require insurance or a doctors referral. Insurance plans are agreements made between you and your insurer, and pediatric speech and language specialists cannot ensure that an insurance carrier will pay for your childs services.

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How Much Does Massage Therapy Coverage Cost

Like all benefits, the more coverage a policy offers, the more its likely to cost. The cost will vary by insurer.

Signing up for health insurance through an employer can save you money. Thats because the employer will often pay part of the cost of the premium for you. They may also offer health insurance plans with more benefits, like massage therapy.

If the massage is considered rehabilitative or is medically necessary, then insurance will not cost you more. It may fall under the coverage of the Affordable Care Acts 10 essential health benefits.

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This article is part of In Session: The Teen Vogue Lesson Plan. Find the full lesson planhere.

Theres no shame in needing help coping with your mental health, and theres no shame in not knowing how to start the process of finding it. Figuring out how to access therapy isnt always easy, and can be confusing even for the most experienced consumers. But, understanding what youre up against is the first step. If you have health insurance, youre one step closer to finding affordable therapy, but first you have to learn how to use your insurance and understand your benefits .

Insurance is complicated for most adults who have used their health insurance in the past, New York therapist Dhvani Patel Lindsey, LMFT said. So if you are confused or worried about how to navigate it, youre not alone. It does take some time to educate yourself, but the information is out there.

To help with the process of booking your first therapy session, Teen Vogue has put together a guide of some of the most common questions, terms, and concerns you might run into when you start trying to figure out if your insurance plan can help with the cost of therapy.

Heres what you need to know about accessing your health insurance benefits.

What Is Music Therapy

Music therapy includes a variety of exposure to music and sounds. You might listen to a recording, play an instrument, or sing during a session with a professional. Music therapy works to evoke emotion and memories in patients as they respond to what they hear.

Listening to music can also be soothing as it reduces anxiety and stress in individuals. While your music therapist wont teach you how to play a new instrument, youll still be able to express yourself through rhythm, tempo, and volume. Even without background knowledge of music, you can harmonize with a music therapist.

Do Medicare Or Medicaid Cover Ketamine Therapy

Medicare or Medicaid coverage for practitioner therapy is a fee-for-service system, in which a healthcare provider is paid based on the number of services they provide or procedures they provide. With this arrangement, your Medicare/Medicaid or other insurance provider is billed for every test and procedure covered each time you visit your doctor. Many ketamine clinics will work with Medicare/Medicaid plans, but their coverage does not extend to the actual drug or its handling and infusion. Further, because public plans are augmented by individual states, the exact cost coverage will depend on where you live.

In general, however, most clinics with this type of arrangement will bill your insurance provider for the time you spend with the doctor, cardiac monitoring during the therapy, IV fluids and other medications, while you cover the gap. Before going for your ketamine treatment, it is best to check first with your insurer to understand precisely what part of your treatment they will cover.

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