Your Investment
You Probably Expected This Page to Be the Problem
Most people come here assuming therapy takes insurance—and honestly, that's a reasonable expectation.
If this is the first thing that's given you pause, you're not alone, and you're not being unreasonable. Keep reading before you close the tab. There's more here than a fee.
What Private Pay Means For You
This practice doesn't bill insurance. Not to protect my business, but because the insurance model asks you to give up things that actually matter in therapy. Here's what you get when you pay privately:
- Your records stay yours.
- Insurance billing requires a mental health diagnosis in your file, one that becomes part of your permanent medical record. Private pay means no required diagnosis, no claim codes, no third-party access to what you and I talk about.
- No one else decides how long you need.
- Insurance companies routinely limit the number of sessions they'll cover or require justification for continued care. Private pay means we set the pace based on what you actually need, not what your plan approves.
Private-Pay Therapy Intensives
For Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, PTSD, & ADHD
You chose me for a reason.
With insurance, your therapist pool is limited to who's in-network. Private pay means you
can see the person who actually fits, not whoever had an opening and takes your plan.
The work stays focused.
When I'm not navigating prior authorizations, claim denials, and insurance paperwork, that time and attention goes back to you.
You're in control of your own information.
You decide what's documented, what's disclosed, and to whom. That's yours to keep.
A Note If You Work in a Field Where Privacy Has Real Stakes
If you're a federal employee, hold a security clearance, work in healthcare, law, or education, or hold a professional license, you already know that mental health documentation can show up in ways you didn't anticipate. Background checks, licensing renewals, and credentialing processes sometimes ask about treatment history. You deserve to know that private pay keeps your records entirely out of the insurance system. This isn't alarmist. It's just something you have the right to factor in.
You Might Already Be Paying Out of Pocket
If you have a high-deductible health plan (and a lot of us do) you may be paying full price for healthcare until you hit your deductible anyway.
That means the effective difference between using insurance and paying privately may be smaller than you think, especially when out-of-network benefits are in the picture.
Your Out-of-Network Benefits: What You Might Not Know You Have
Here's something a lot of people discover late: even if this practice isn't in-network with your insurance, your plan may still reimburse a significant portion of each session. This is called an out-of-network benefit, and many PPO and POS plans include it.
Here's how it typically works:
This practice provides a superbill—a detailed receipt with the billing codes your insurance needs—after each session. You submit it to your insurance company, and they reimburse you directly based on your out-of-network coverage.
What that can look like in real numbers:
What Your Session May Cost
Example based on 70% out-of-network reimbursement.
Many clients end up paying $55–$90 per session after reimbursement, depending on their specific plan.
That number will vary based on your deductible, coinsurance rate, and plan type. The fastest way to know yours is to check right now:
Mentaya also handles the claims submission for you — no phone calls to your insurance company, no faxing paperwork. You pay the flat 5% fee only when you get reimbursed.
Don't Forget Your FSA or HSA
Therapy is an IRS-qualified medical expense, which means if you have a Flexible Spending Account or Health Savings Account, those pre-tax dollars can pay for sessions. Many clients have these funds sitting available and don't think to use them here.
If You've Made It Here, You're Already Thinking Seriously About This
That matters. You didn't come this far on a whim. If cost was the only thing standing between you and starting, I hope this page gave you something real to work with—not reassurance, but actual information.