Why I Do Not Accept Insurance.
Many times I receive calls from potential clients looking for someone to help them work through current overwhelming issues that they wish to resolve. These people, like all of us are looking for understanding, and to gain peace of mind during hectic times. These same people pay their insurance premiums monthly and want to be able to benefit from such.
I totally understand this. I understand that insurance premiums regardless of the insurance carrier are expensive and difficult to understand and navigate through. Some insurance policies, despite the high premiums still to this day do not cover mental health services.
So it is you and I the consumers who pay the expensive monthly premiums, hopefully get mental health coverage only to call someone like myself that does not accept insurance. What is that all about?
First, let me say that some insurance companies may be less difficult to work with than others but unlike medical health, mental health is not readily seen. You cannot necessarily see depression like you could see a broken bone, thus insurance companies have a long and strong history of denying mental health benefits. The result being that the provider, such as myself, are not fairly compensated for our services.
While I have offered superbills in the past to clients after they completed their sessions, that the insurance companies still look for any reason to deny a claim, a claim that had all the necessary documentation beyond what they had requested. They said the superbill had too much information on it and wanted me to resubmit with less information. I actually did so, only to have them come back requesting more information. Can you see where a lot of my professional time was consumed by the games that insurance companies play?
Insurance companies are in the business of making money, which I totally understand that. Their goal is to collect as much money as possible while paying out very little. So, I had to make a very difficult decision. Do I spend my days dealing with the run-arounds of insurance companies, where they play “god” in my life and my business (telling me what I can or cannot do) or do I focus more solely on providing the best services we can. And safeguard the privacy of my clients and work to keep our administrative expenses down?
When I have people call in and they want to use their insurance, I do not try to convince them otherwise, rather I point them in one or two directions. I do my best to help them find a provider that will meet their needs. I’ve worked with a woman on the phone for several days helping her find a provider that would accept her insurance. I did not mind the extra time out of my day because I was helping someone.
At Kelly-Johnston Counseling, it is all about healing. Everything we do here focuses on healing. Thus our motto is "WHEN HEALING MATTERS".
And because healing is our emphasis and because healing matters, the choice was obvious to me.
Comments