Appointment Fees

My full fee per appointment is $200.

With the exception of pro bono gender-affirming medical care assessments and groups, this fee is applicable to all sessions, regardless of length or type. However, If this cost is prohibitive to you, I abide by a tiered payment structure in order to increase access to therapy. Click here to learn more about sliding scale.

Looking for group therapy? For current group therapy rates, please see the page or flier for the specific group. There will typically be a 3-tier payment structure available.

For additional answers to questions related to insurance, cancellation fees, group therapy, and payment methods accepted, check out my FAQ page.

I don’t take insurance. Here’s why:

There are several reasons why I do not work with insurance companies to cover the cost of therapy for my clients and will only accept out-of-pocket payment.

The first is that working with insurance to pay for therapy requires a not-insignificant administrative burden both for my clients and myself.

Working with insurance also requires me to provide a diagnosis in order for the payer to approve the cost of therapy as “medically necessary.” I do not see therapy as treatment only for medical necessity. Therapy is for everyone no matter their diagnosis or lack thereof.

In addition to the diagnosis requirement, insurance companies have the right to audit client records, again for the purpose of determining medical necessity. This both exposes your personal information to unknown parties and constrains our treatment, as the insurance provider can potentially dictate how our therapy progresses or refuse to pay for the treatment I provide.

In the context of all of this, using insurance to pay for therapy becomes a system of surveillance and policing of client care. I hold deep values of anti-carcerality and anti-surveillance within (and outside of) my therapy practice.

Ultimately, it comes down to the ethical boundaries that guide my practice, and it is against my ethics to participate in the insurance system.

One of my colleagues, Hannah Boes, says it best on her website:

“My priority will always be my clients’ privacy and their access to the highest quality care my training and expertise can provide. I have witnessed how insurance companies have made it difficult for providers to maintain these priorities, particularly in the realm of confidentiality and autonomy. This shows up in the form of frequent requests for the personal records of clients, placing constraints on the number and type of sessions clients can attend with coverage, inaccurate, slow, or nonexistent reimbursements, and attempts to influence or dictate treatment. [Not working in-network with insurance] allows us to keep decisions about the nature, course, length, and focus of treatment between us.”

Submitting for Out-of-Network Benefits

Some insurance plans (usually PPO plans) allow patients to see providers who are not in their network. If you wish to submit out-of-network (OON) benefits claims, please inform me at our first meeting so that we may discuss this option. This involves me providing you with a “superbill” to submit directly to your insurance company.  A superbill must include a diagnostic code. Please note that full payment is due at the time of services and that your insurance provider will, if they agree to coverage, reimburse you directly. I will have no authority to make decisions about your coverage or dispute denied claims. All clients wishing to submit their bill for out-of-network reimbursement will be charged my full out-of-pocket rate of $200.