Benefits of Paying privately for therapy

Paying privately for therapy allows your sessions and any related charting to remain entirely private. When you use insurance, your therapy records become part of your medical history, which can be accessed by your insurance company and potentially by future employers or other entities. 

Insurance plans typically have a limited network of approved providers, restricting your options when selecting a therapist. Private-pay allows you the freedom to choose a therapist based on compatibility, expertise, and personal preferences rather than being restricted to a network provided by your insurance plan. 

Private pay therapy is under no obligation to diagnosis. Many individuals prefer not to carry a diagnostic label, fear potential repercussions, such as higher insurance premiums or barriers to future employment opportunities, or simply do not meet criteria for any particular diagnosis.  Insurance companies require a formal diagnosis on file, often causing therapists to wrongly identify a diagnosis even if criteria is not formally met so that they may be compensated for their time. 

With private-pay therapy, you have more control over your treatment plan, session frequency and duration, and use of therapy for personal growth vs meeting arbitrary and generalized goals set by an insurance company. Often insurance companies mandate specific treatment plans based on someone’s diagnosis, limit how many sessions may be approved, or suddenly drop coverage mid treatment. By paying privately, you eliminate any third party input on how you use your therapy space. 

Therapists working with insurance companies are typically compensated at lower rates, which leads to a higher volume of clients and overworked therapists. Many highly experienced therapists choose not to work with insurance because they want the freedom to provide a higher standard of care, without being constrained by insurance protocols. By paying privately, you often get access to these more experienced, specialized therapists who have chosen a business model that allows them to be their best selves for you.

Dealing with lengthy call times, high deductibles, denied claims, clawbacks, and impersonal third party involvement can be time-consuming and unexpectedly expensive. Private pay arrangements eliminate this risk that you might be surprised by dropped coverage and owe for sessions that you were not expecting to pay out of pocket for.