Sessions are scheduled for one hour.

We spend about 50-55 minutes together doing counseling and psychotherapy.

The remaining time is used for administrative and record-keeping purposes, such as scheduling, collecting payment, writing clinical notes on our work, generating documentation for your health insurance benefits, etc.

I'm in-network with Cigna, Horizon BCBS NJ, and Aetna

If I am in-network with your health insurance plan, the cost of our sessions depends on your plan's benefits (e.g., $20 copayment per session, 10% coinsurance per session, etc.).

• Example #1: if my contracted rate with Cigna is $100 and your copayment is $20, you would pay me $20 at the time of our counseling session and Cigna would pay me $80 after a claim is submitted to them and successfully processed.

• Example #2: if my contracted rate with Cigna is $100 and your coinsurance is 10%, you would pay me $10 at the time of our counseling session and Cigna would pay me $90 after a claim is submitted to them and successfully processed.

If I am out-of-network with your health insurance plan or you wish to pay out-of-pocket (i.e., you don't want to use health insurance), sessions cost $200.

• • Many health insurance plans have out-of-network benefits for psychotherapy (e.g., a 30% coinsurance for out-of-network providers instead of 10% for in-network providers). The rate at which insurance companies reimburse for out-of-network claims varies by plan and by carrier. We will provide all the necessary documentation (e.g., detailed invoice) for you to submit a claim for out-of-network services.

  • Example #1: if you have a 30% coinsurance with UnitedHealthcare, you would pay $200 at the time of our counseling session and then submit a claim to UnitedHealthcare along with an invoice to be reimbursed $140 by UnitedHealthcare.

Questions to Ask Your Health Insurance

This is a useful document that includes my practice's identifying information, which you can use to call your health insurance to verify whether I am in-network or out-of-network with your plan and what your benefits are. Please strongly consider using this document and calling your health insurance plan! It will greatly clarify your benefits and the cost of counseling.

My goal is transparency and clarity

Although I hope the above makes things easily understood, if you are still left with questions, please know that I am more than happy to discuss all of these details during a consultation. Navigating health insurance benefits or payment for counseling services in general can be confusing, and I am happy to clarify this with you! Counseling for Change also recognizes individuals in need who struggle financially and a sliding scale rate is available in a limited number of specific cases.