Activating Health Insurance Coverage for Mental Health Therapy: What to Know

It may actually be rare and difficult to access, but there are situations where you can activate health insurance plans to pay for mental health therapy.

In fact, the major question most people ask is whether it is possible to get insurance providers to pay for mental health therapy, and the actual amount it will cost if an individual decides to make out-of-pocket payments for mental health therapy.

Given the prevailing Coronavirus crises worldwide, these are important questions to consider. Many people now suffer from mental health challenges as a direct result of job loss, the demise of loved ones, mental illness, family crisis, marital breakups, and constant depression attributable to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Millions of people face a bleak future with sunken businesses and accumulating debts that threaten personal joy and family survival. Thousands of others have lost hope in life and contemplating crime and suicide.

But it doesn’t have to be this way where a horde of licensed online therapists queued up to offer help. With digital technology, anyone suffering from anxiety and depression or psychological stress as a result of economic lockdown and movement restrictions can access instant help via online therapy and telephone counseling as well as live video with licensed and accredited internet therapists.

While you have to pay for online or physical mental health therapies one way or another, the question is whether health insurance plans cover payments for these treatments.

First of all, the Mental Health Care and Parity Act (MHPA) legislation provides that health insurance plans cover treatments or therapies for mental and behavioral health. This is for big health insurance companies and business organizations with more than 50 employees.

The health insurance plan must cover medical health, mental health, and substance abuse coverage as well. Aside from the insurance coverage, it must be pointed out that paying for mental health care is now as cheap as premiums paid for life, home, and auto insurances.

In case you are ever doubtful if your health insurance plan covers mental health therapy, the best thing to do is to contact your health provider for clarification.

Simply reach out to your health insurance company to clarify if you are covered for mental health therapy and treatments for substance abuse as well as behavioral concerns. Sometimes a health insurer may provide coverage under certain conditions you must learn so that you can know how to take advantage of all provisions.

It must however be pointed out that some health insurers do not subscribe to the provisions of the Mental Health Parity Act and that of the Affordable Care Act.

In certain situations, you may use out-of-network health providers who will accept your health insurance plan as a form of payment for mental health therapy offered to you. With out-of-network health benefits, a mental health therapist may choose to treat you and then you get reimbursed by your health insurance company after the treatment.

You may also be required to pay your therapist upfront by way of co-pay so that your insurance company can foot the bill for the remaining treatment.

It is also possible to use insurance deductibles to pay for your mental health treatment but care must be taken to ensure that the out-of-pocket expense is reasonable.

Where the odds are not stacked in your favor, then you must utilize online therapy for mental health via platforms such as BetterHelp where you pay to access the professional competence of licensed and fully accredited mental health therapists.

Click here to read about how health insurance policies work when it comes to therapy and counseling. It’s important to know what your plan offers, what it covers, and what limitations you might have.