Just curious how many of you have to pay 'out of pocket' for therapy. I am fortunate to see a Christian therapist who is working for the Baptist Association in our area. She only charges $50 per hour. Well, it says 'per hour', but I always see her for about an hour and a half.

Now that I have to meet my $1000 deductible again, that will determine how often I see her. I normally go bi-monthly, but was seeing her weekly for the past month. (In Dec. deductible was met and it only cost me $10 per visit)

I really want to go more than twice a month, but really cannot afford to pay $150 -$200 per month for therapy.

[ECHOES]

Usually $70 a week, discounted (originally from $85 although her regular fee now is $100). If I go twice a week the 2nd visit is $50.
Recently because of some financial problems, she has discounted the weekly fee temporarily to $50. I wish she could keep it at that rate so I could go twice a week.

$45.00 no matter how many times i go, that is my co-pay.....

[Christina86]

Let's see... $25 per session out of pocket, $10 per session covered by her organization for people with lower income, and I forget how much my bursary (since I'm a student) covers but I think it's $40-50 per session. I'm pretty happy my fee is so low, but it wont be after this upcoming summer!!

[bpd mess]

insurance only allows her to be paid $70 even though her normal fee is $100-$125. i pay $35 for my co-pay. i think my co-pay just went down to $25 because my insurance took mental health professionals off the "specialist" list this year.

[Kacey2]

I pay $3000 a year and then I reach my deductable and it is 100% covered. We choose a high deductable plan every year, it actually is less out of pocket in the long run w/ the monthly insurance rates. My t's clinic gets about $80 per visit but they charge $176/hr. I pay the $76 twice a week so it is a lot per month at the beginning of the year and then nothing at the end. Just the goofy way it works. We flex the whole $3000 each year because we will use it.

[mightaswelllive]

$3000 deductible + [($120 per session therapy - $70 return from insurance)(2 sessions a week)(roughly 40 weeks)] + [($200 per session med management - $120 return from insurance)(1 session per month)(10 months)] = $7800 a year... oh my god. i have crap insurance.

new new years resolution: therapy once a week

[confused and dazed]

Originally Posted by Squiggle328

Just curious how many of you have to pay 'out of pocket' for therapy. I am fortunate to see a Christian therapist who is working for the Baptist Association in our area. She only charges $50 per hour. Well, it says 'per hour', but I always see her for about an hour and a half.

Now that I have to meet my $1000 deductible again, that will determine how often I see her. I normally go bi-monthly, but was seeing her weekly for the past month. (In Dec. deductible was met and it only cost me $10 per visit)

I really want to go more than twice a month, but really cannot afford to pay $150 -$200 per month for therapy.

Im sorry this is my first post. I hope I am doing it correctly. My T charges me $50.00 per session... his usualy fee is $160-180, but I had been a client in a hospital with insurance before my T went private. He says he will work with me his cost as my income changes.

[with or without you]

$120 a pop, I pay out of pocket. Works out to over $3,000 US a year.

My copay went up to $45 a visit this year. I see him once a week for 90 minutes, and he lets me pay 1/2 of his reduced hourly fee for the second 30 minutes (which works out to $30), so right now, I'm paying $75 for a 90 minute session.

I'm thinking about adding an extra session every two weeks, so that would be another $45. SO, $205 every two weeks.

In fall, I HAVE to go down to one 50 minute session a week, because my oldest will start high school and finding someone to watch my two younger ones will be tricky.

I'm guessing therapy will cost me around $3000 or so this year, taking vacations and stuff into account.

Which seems like a lot, but if my mom had spent that during MY childhood, things might be so different now. I am NOT going to ever, ever, EVER make my kids suffer how i did. If it costs $3000 a year for them to be able to live in a home that is loving and peaceful and accepting, that's fine with me.

This makes me feel better for some strange reason. I was kinda feeling guilty for having to start paying $100-$150 per month (2-3 visits) when my family could use that money for so many other things!

[splitimage]

I pay $160 / visit completly out of pocket & that's not even her full rate. She hasn't passed on her annual rate increases to me, since she knows I have lousy insurance and had to take a lower paying job from when I first started seing her. Her regular rate is $185 / visit. I recently had to drop down from going weekly to every other week for financial reasons, but I was ready to cut back on therapy anyway - I've been seeing her for more than a decade. My insurance will reimburse me up to $1500 per year which is less than 10 sessions. She did discount her rate for me to $100 / session when I went into rehab in summer 09, and could only work part time. I've spent 10's of thousands of dollars on therapy but it's been worth it to me, because it's kept me alive. I'm just lucky my psychiatrist who I see once a month, and my addictions Dr. who I see every 2 weeks for therapy are covered by our public health insurance.

--splitimage

[Indie'sOK]

$45 copay, roughly every two weeks. I figured it out to around $1,000 a year. Seems like a lot of money, but perhaps not - we certainly blow a considerable amount on fast food

To me, it's priceless.

[SpiritRunner]

My copay is $20 and our insurance allows 30 visits/yr before having to send in anything about medical necessity.....so that's 80-100$ a month, depending on my needs. Without insurance, it would be somewhere around 150, I think (and hubby would say, once every two months!) (oh, and our insurance pays her pretty well too - about 130...so neither of us has anything to complain about!)
As it is, I think it's all worth what it has/will cost....

[racee]

$250 PER SESSION evey week, 1,000 a month all out of pocket.
that includes unlimited phone call sessions...which only on occasion do i take advantage of...i don't want to be too needy.

[sunrise]

I pay 100% out of pocket for my T, whom I see every 2-4 weeks. I won't say how much per visit, as if I type it out, I will realize I really should not be spending so much money. So I am head-in-the-sand as far as the cost is concerned. I'm seeing my T less and less frequently, so the cost keeps getting less. My PNP is reimbursed 85% by my insurance, and I see her about every 3 months. Sometimes I can put it all in perspective by comparing the cost to the much much higher fees I paid to my lawyer. Therapists definitely are not the highest paid professionals on the planet.

[hangingon]

I pay nothing to see my psychiatrist as I see her at the place I work and my insurance covers that 100%. I see her every once every 4-8 weeks depending on the need.

My therapist offered me a reduced rate of $80.00 a session and I see her once a week. I pay that up front out of pocket then my insurance reinburses me $56.00 of the $80.00 so I really only pay $24.00 a visit.

[PTSDlovemycats]

I pay nothing. It is covered by health care. One of the luxeries of being Canadian.

[elliemay]

well, about $3000 a year out of pocket lately.

I thought that the mental health parity act would help to cover all of my sessions, but the insurers in my state were granted dispensation by the legislature to, well, basically ignore that act. My benefits did not improve at all - even though my "diagnosis" is one that is allegedly covered. What a crock.

Anyhoodle. When I think of my total therapy expense, I could have had a nice down payment on a house, or at least a kick *** car.

I wish there was a way I could put that expense back on the people that SHOULD be paying it. Sigh.

[darkrunner]

Wow. I can't imagine having to pay so much for therapy.

My copay is $6 per session. So I guess that is about $300 per year.

My T charges about $90, insurance pays about $65, and I pay $6.
I have unlimited sessions.

I agree with Treehouse, though, for those paying a lot of money it is a good worthwhile investment.

[granite1]

i pay 20 unlimited visits

[Christina86]

Originally Posted by PTSDlovemycats

I pay nothing. It is covered by health care. One of the luxeries of being Canadian.

Psychiatrist? Gotta love that part about being Canadian. (I don't think psychologists or MA's or other certified people are covered? Although it probably varies by province).

I miss having free counselling through my university and seeing a psychiatrist. Ah well!

[splitimage]

In Canada only MD's are covered by public healthcare. That's why psychiatrists are covered, but the number who actually do therapy is seriously limited, and there's a real shortage.

Some GPs also do counselling, which is covered.

Psychologists, and social workers are not covered anywhere in Canada unless you have supplemental insurance for paramedical professionals, through work. This pisses me off. I see a psychologist for my primary therapy, which is why I'm shelling out big bucks for treatment.

My addictions Dr. does therapy and she's an MD so when I also see her it's covered. I've started seeing her more often since I've had to cut back on my psychologist visits. And if I have a long period when I can't see her, as sometimes happens, I can get a counselling session with one of the two addictions RN's at my hospital. They're both great and have training in addictions and counselling. Actually when i'm talking to my nurse Brenda, who also supervises my meds, I feel like I'm talking to my Mom. She's such a sweet lady.

--splitimage

[Perna]

I paid wholly out-of-pocket, about $8,000-$9,000 a year; I like thinking of it long-term, like education. I paid $6,000-$8,000 out-of-pocket a year for my second degree and grad school. Therapy was part of life for me, like food, shelter, and clothing

[geez]

$25 copay with a limit of 60 sessions in a year. I now go once a week. Unfortunatly our insurance will be changing this year so I believe it will be costing $120 per session That is something I can't afford weekly and will only be able to do maybe once per month. I hope to get 'better' before then. I'm feeling a little bit of pressure and I think I will be discussing this with T. This is going to suck!