Many clients choose not to involve insurance companies in their mental health care. Their counseling is not limited by the diagnosis, treatment plan or session limits that health insurance companies dictate. Insurance companies often limit the number of sessions and even the type of therapy. Many insurance companies do not cover couples therapy for example.
To have therapy services covered under insurance, a mental health diagnosis must be made. This then becomes a part of your permanent health care record. This may result to limitations such as denial for quality life insurance or health insurance later on. Additionally, since a mental health diagnosis must be made to obtain reimbursement, the insurance company has to know a lot of information about you to be covered. The insurance company can review all of your records at their discretion.
By paying privately or out of pocket, we can assure private pay clients of the highest degree of privacy, flexibility and control of their mental health record allowed by Minnesota state law, since our records are exempt from insurance reporting and random compliance audits. Our work is off record.
In addition, many insurance companies require a deductible to be met before they start paying, so you may be paying out of pocket anyway.
We will work collaboratively to decide how often to attend therapy and you decide what you want to focus on. You have the control, not the insurance company.
The majority of the staff at Renew do not take insurance.
To utilize out-of-network benefits, take the following steps:
- Check your out-of-network benefits: These are typically in the Summary of Benefits that is included in a member information packet or on your insurance company website
- Call your insurance company to verify: Call the mental health number if there is one. Ask:
- What is my out-of-network deductible for outpatient mental health?
- How much of my deductible has been met this year?
- What is my out-of-network coinsurance for outpatient mental health?
- Do I need a referral from an in-network provider to see someone out-of-network?
- How do I submit claim forms for reimbursement?
- Ask your therapist for a superbill: This would include all information needed to go towards your out-of-network benefits including diagnosis code, date of service, procedure code, and payment received. Please note, you insurance then will have your mental health diagnosis on your permanent file.
- Receive reimbursement! You’ll need to pay your therapist their entire session fee at the time of service, but depending on your specific plan, your insurance company will mail you a check to reimburse a portion of the cost.
Take the following steps:
- Check your out-of-network benefits: These are typically in the Summary of Benefits that is included in a member information packet or on your insurance company website
- Call your insurance company to verify: Call the mental health number if there is one. Ask:
- What is my out-of-network deductible for outpatient mental health?
- How much of my deductible has been met this year?
- What is my out-of-network coinsurance for outpatient mental health?
- Do I need a referral from an in-network provider to see someone out-of-network?
- How do I submit claim forms for reimbursement?
- Ask your therapist for a superbill: This would include all information needed to go towards your out-of-network benefits including diagnosis code, date of service, procedure code, and payment received. Please note, you insurance then will have your mental health diagnosis on your permanent file.
- Receive reimbursement! You’ll need to pay your therapist their entire session fee at the time of service, but depending on your specific plan, your insurance company will mail you a check to reimburse a portion of the cost.
