At Gaithersburg Counseling Center, we believe health and wellness are incredibly important to living a full and happy life. Because we value confidentiality and believe that you and not your insurance company should guide your therapy, we do not participate directly in any managed care plans. Too often, managed care companies predetermine the necessity of therapy, while we believe these needs should be determined through a collaborative process between you and your therapist, driven by your personal progress and needs.
We are sensitive to the need for affordable therapy, and so our services at Gaithersburg Counseling Center are provided at an affordable rate. Most of our sessions cost around $100-$140, depending on the type of therapy (individual, couples, family etc.) and which provider you are seeing. We also offer group therapy and skills coaching at a more reduced rate. As licensed clinicians, our professional services will usually qualify for reimbursement under your insurance plan, as we are considered Out Of Network providers for most insurance companies. We do offer a sliding scale and will do our best to work with you to agree on a price that is reasonable even without health insurance.
Although the choice to use your insurance for reimbursement of therapy is yours, please consider the following before making an informed decision:
- Insurance companies are designed to reimburse for the treatment of illness. Therefore, a psychiatric diagnosis is usually required before any reimbursement is allowed. This diagnosis becomes a pre-existing condition if you ever have to reapply for insurance and can affect your rates.
- Managed care companies control many facets of your therapy, including the medical necessity of care, the type of therapy they will cover, and the duration and pace of therapy (without regard to your personal progress).
- All insurance companies require some personal information in order to facilitate processing your claim. Once this information is transmitted to an insurance company, there is no way to ensure that it will remain private and confidential.
If you do chose to submit to your insurance company, I will provide you with a bill with all of the required information needed that can be submitted to your insurance company for out-of-network reimbursement. Please check with your insurance coverage carefully by asking the following questions:
- What are my Out Of Network, Mental Health insurance benefits?
- What is my deductible and has it been met?
- How many sessions per year does my health insurance cover?
- What is the coverage amount per therapy session? (It is usually expressed as a percentage, like 80% or a flat rate, like $80.)
- Is preauthorization (e.g. preapproval, precertification) required from my insurance company or primary care physician?