My Take on Insurance
Bare with me while I air my grievances. As many
of you know, I am a licensed therapist in a couple of states and in the process
of becoming licensed in a third state. I welcome opportunities to serve as many
people as I can and by doing so, I have found it necessary to become paneled
with insurance companies to assist in defraying the costs of therapeutic care.
But, here are the issues I have found with myself and other licensed
clinicians.
Many of us have opened our professional doors
possessing skills and specializations to cater to specific populations. After
much education, examination (s) and continuing education credits along with
supervision hours and licensure hoops we have jumped through, we have made it!
We are licensed and in order to maintain our license, there are additional
things we need to do. Without getting into too much detail, we all have
requirements we need to fulfill in order to remain licensed in our state as
well as policies and procedures we must follow whether as owners of a private practice or therapist at a group practice. This includes but is not limited to professional liability insurance.
Be it as it may, many of us intend to connect to
insurance companies so that individuals are not forced to pay out of pocket for
specialized care and services. Some of us work hard in building rapport and
establishing a good network of professionals that we can confer with in
addition to engaging in continuing education hours so that we remain sharp and
effective as therapists. In my time in private practice, I have
applied to several insurance companies to become paneled with their network. I
have been denied for 2 unique reasons and 1 insurance company I have been
waiting since May 2018 to get an update (with month-to-month communication)
about the progress in obtaining licensure. I'm almost there! Here are the reasons I have heard
for why I was not an approved provider:
1. We are full! We are no longer accepting
therapists in your region.
2. We are not accepting therapists who only
provide teletherapy.
3. You do not fit the requirements
necessary to become a provider (I presume this goes along with Option 2)
Now, for option 2 and by default 3, it makes
sense to me that insurance companies aren't willing to accept any therapist
that provide online therapy or if they feel that they have reached capacity of tele-therapists they have on file. However, when those insurance
companies have members that reach out for therapy, I feel bummed that I cannot
see those individuals who need help. For reason 1, when people do reach out to me and they have that particular insurance, I still feel bummed because I have
to tell them that I do not take their insurance.
What is unfortunate is that most of these
individuals do not know that some of us therapists have attempted to become paneled
with their insurance company and are turned away for either reason listed
above and others. What I typically get are complaints from individuals who are upset that
many psychotherapists and psychologists and even psychiatrists do not take
their insurance, but they may not know the full story. I do wish that insurance
companies will allow providers to meet their members' needs, but the reality is
that the process is not perfect. This process decreases providers motivation to
become paneled with insurance companies because the process can be so
tedious...as I wait for a response from an insurance company that I was
recently paneled with (but needed to switch provider-ship over to my private
practice) and have been waiting for several months. While I play the waiting
game, I am willing to assist individuals and have assisted individuals with
finding a psychotherapist that accepts their insurance and may be a good fit.
So, who is to blame?
I cannot say that licensed psychotherapists are
to blame because we charge $150+ for self-pay and some individuals may not be
able to afford that week to week. I cannot say that the insurance companies are
to blame because of the hurdles they make providers jump over in order to grant
the provider access to serving their members. I mean why not? You cannot just have any ole person with a degree and license be one of your providers, right? I cannot say that the members
need to stop complaining and pay for the service they want with or without
insurance. What I can say is that we should review this provider process
because there are many psychotherapists, psychologists, counseling social workers
and psychiatrists that are willing to provide affordable mental health
treatment via insurance in their private practice.
I felt the need to share this today because it's
just rough out here. I know there are people that need help. I get requests
every day, but I cannot serve people who can only afford treatment via
insurance if I, along with other highly-trained clinicians, have been declined provider-ship from that insurer. But like I said before, I can help you find
someone who can help. So, I'm open to your requests and just know that if I
can serve you, I will. :-)
Follow me on IG & Twitter @LWCOUNSELS
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