Insurance Reinbursements

I have a private practice and for years have only accepted payment by cash or check. Not wanting to weave through the paperwork and the red tape of insurance companies and the state government - in regards to Medical.

I had a crafty one today. A former cash client called me excited that she could continue our sessions now that she has MHN insurance. Looking up this unknown insurance plan I found out it was a medical HMO insurance that reinburses doctors around $13.00 a session. Well let me see... I see a client for an hour which includes drive time to the office and back, paperwork that takes maybe 15 minutes and storage of the file, not to mention the telephone time to schedule appointments, contact my insurance biller, so let's say for two hours I'd make an amazing $6.00 an hour.

I am a Doctor. I went into this business, of course to help people out, but it doesn't mean not helping myself out in the process. How do therapists survive on these piddly wages? This is a crime. Perhaps if I gathered all the clients I could at one time and create a seminar for an hour and see maybe fifty people at a time I might survive the Medical HMO route. That is only if I could photocopy notes, keep them generic, but knowing me I'd be detailed as hell and still make $6.00 an hour or less.

Too bad. The population that needs my help the most can't afford my services. In school that told me it would be important to offer my services to people that can't afford to pay as a way to give back to the greater society. That sounded great on paper to me, but after I pay all my bills at the end of the month and barely can afford to feed my family, I need to ask myself if I need to put mentally ill people ahead of my own family. There has to be a way that we can take care of the population that needs the services I can offer.

The county of Los Angeles does have numerous Mental Health Offices to care for the needs of people with debilitating mental illness. This is great and I work with many of them on a given day. It is the people that don't quite fit their criteria that want help but have to pay for it out of pocket that is a concern. Do I charge ten dollars for an auditorium filled with these people? Maybe. But insurance and the hoops and fences I have to hop through are now a detriment.