I’ve had this weird thing happening to a few of my clients in the last few months and I thought it was worthy of discussion. The client finds out, four to five sessions into therapy, that the insurance company they thought they had is not, in fact, the insurance company paying for their behavioral health care.
For example: let’s say a client calls and schedules a new patient appointment and tells the therapist they have “XYZ” insurance. The therapist is accepting that insurance and an appointment is scheduled. After properly billing for those sessions, the therapist learns that “XYZ” insurance company has subcontracted that behavioral health benefit with “RPH” insurance company. And, the therapist doesn’t accept “RPH” insurance. This leaves the client with a bill of hundreds of dollars, if things are going really well the client feels upset that therapy may have to be scaled back to fewer sessions per month or worse, severed. Honestly, this is even happening to clients with insurance that has previously paid me and then mid-year, it changes and no one is notified. Whoever gets the EOB first with the denial will be the first to know, whether that’s you or your therapist.
So, here’s what you can do to avoid this from happening to you: take the time to call your insurance company and ask the question, “Which insurance company is paying for my behavioral health care? Is it “XYZ or is it another company?” And then you can safely book that session. If this happens to you while you’re in therapy already, talk to your therapist. An ethical therapist will work with you to help you get your bill paid without too much stress.