insurance questions regarding therapists

I'm reposting this here because I originally posted it in the wrong forum

Hey all,

I have major financial issues, but that's beside the point. My question is this: Most medical insurances say that they pay for around 12 mental health outpatient visits a year. Are they talking about pdocs or Ts or both? Also are most of you who see Ts paying out of pocket?
I'm on psych meds but in order for me to ever get better, I know I need f2f talk-therapy with a T, possibly CBT. I'm just trying to figure out what I can expect as far as insurance goes. Right now I still have medical insurance through my job, not sure how much longer I will have my job.
Thanks all.

Z

I hear you. I am as poor as a starving artist. That being said....

1) I believe your T and p-doc can get more visits when they tell your insurance company that you are "mentally ill" with certain popular diagnostic labels.

2) If this is not true with your insurance, have you considered a local county mental health clinic. Sliding scale and cheap. And actually, although the providers are "overworked" they are usually very good because they see a variety of mental health problems. Sliding scale is the way to go.

Good luck.

I think there are quite a few plans that pay for more than that. If you want to know how many your insurance covers, you can check directly with them or read the fine print of your policy. Also, some will say they only pay for a certain number, say 12, but then if it turns out you need more, your T can fill out a form to get the insurance to authorize more sessions.

My insurance covers my PNP visits, but I pay out of pocket for my T.

Good luck with your job--hope it endures.

thanks for the comments guys. I know my insurance will cover pdoc for a while, and even if doesn't cover any T sessions, I think EAP through work will be able to help without at least for a while.
Z

My last job only covered up to $800 / year for psychologist visists and at $160 / hr that's not much. I pay out of pocket for T. I'm hoping my insurance at my new job will be better. Pdoc is covered by public health care in Canada as would any CBT groups that were done through a hospital. Private CBT with a private T you'd have to pay out of pocket. I know through my new job, I'll get an EAP and I'll be able to acccess some time limited services through that.

--splitimage