Why Self-Pay Therapy is Better for YOU as a Therapy Patient
Have you ever noticed that finding a therapist can feel like online dating? Like you’re swiping through endless profiles trying to find someone who actually gets you, only to find that they either don’t take your insurance, do take your insurance and have a year-long waitlist, or they don’t even take insurance at all.
So…what’s the difference between insurance vs. self-pay therapy? And more importantly, why does it matter for YOU?
Here at Soultality in Boston, MA, we’re proud to say we’re a locally owned self-pay therapy practice for anxiety, OCD, and related disorders. By being self-pay, it means we’re able to prioritize YOU instead of jumping through insurance hoops that put profits over people. And today, we’re breaking down exactly why self-pay therapy is often the better choice for your mental health journey.
The Truth About Insurance-Based Therapy
At first glance, using insurance for therapy seems like a no-brainer. Especially if you have a low deductible, it just seems like it would make sense for you to use your insurance rather than paying out of pocket.
But here’s what most people don’t realize: insurance companies control your care. Not you, not your therapist. It’s the insurance company that decides everything about the care you receive.
When you use therapy through insurance, you’re more likely to experience:
Longer wait times for an available therapist (which, hello, isn’t great during a crisis)
Limits on how many sessions you get (spoiler, it’s often way fewer than you actually need)
Certain treatments not being covered at all
Care that’s focused on measurable metrics and outcomes
These are just SOME of the problems with insurance-based care. Moving to a self-pay therapy center makes a huge difference in any patient’s therapy experience.
Why Self-Pay Therapy is Better for YOU
Only You & Your Therapist Decide What’s Best
With insurance, therapy isn’t always about what actually helps you. It’s more about what supports their bottom line, what’s “billable” and what works best for the insurance company, not always the patients.
At Soultality, we treat people as people, not billing codes. The decisions about your care and treatment plans are made between only you and your therapist. If we feel like you need more sessions? You got it. Feel like we need to try other courses of treatment? There’s no need to wait for insurance approval.
Basically, we get to make decisions for you with ONLY your needs in mind, minus waiting for approvals from some out-of-touch insurance executives.
Maximum Privacy, Always
Did you know that insurance companies have the option to request ALL patient information?
And while that might not immediately strike you as problematic, we promise you that it can be.
The facts are that more and more therapists who work through insurance are required to use AI monitoring of all sessions to determine whether your care is being “effective” enough. If patients need more time for certain treatments or have complex diagnoses, the insurance company can deem that the care isn’t necessary and can change (or completely remove!) the course of treatment.
That also means that your therapy becomes subject to data mining, third parties getting their hands on your personal history, alongside insurance companies being heavily involved in your care.
Because Soultality is not tied to insurance, we:
Use minimal documentation (no excessive session notes)
Don’t require a diagnosis unless clinically necessary *Unless patients seek out-of-network reimbursement
Do NOT record or store your sessions, ever
Do NOT use AI to track, analyze, or store data about your care.
This means your therapy stays YOURS.
No Diagnosis on Your Permanent Record
If you’re in a profession that requires background checks or security clearances, you might want to think twice before using a therapist with insurance pay. When we file with insurance, we are required to put down a diagnosis that is on your record forever. People in the law, medical, military, or even finance fields can have problems caused by having a definitive mental health diagnosis on their permanent medical history.
If you don’t want your mental health journey permanently documented in insurance records, self-pay therapy gives you that control. Whether you’re navigating a stressful time and want support or you want to work through a more complex problem, you don’t have to have that label follow you forever.
At Soultality, we never have to declare your diagnosis, so your private information stays just that. Private.
Higher-Quality Care from Experts Who Keep Learning
Because we are not tied to insurance, we don’t have to cram twice the number of patients into our schedules just to make ends meet. Dealing with insurance is not only frustrating due to the limited care we’re able to offer as therapists, but it also comes with a heavy amount of paperwork, back ‘n forth phone calls with insurance executives, alongside an overly packed schedule of patients.
For YOU as a patient, this means:
We have more time to stay on top of the latest, most effective treatments
We actually get to know YOU since we have time flexibility
We continuously invest in advanced training, research, and education to bring you the best, most up-to-date mental health care available
Allows us to specialize in niche mental health categories so we can bring our best every single day
We’re all about learning from conferences, masterminds, and training with top experts in the field so we can bring you the best of what’s working right now, not just what insurance companies are willing to pay for. This in and of itself gives YOU peace of mind, knowing that we are on top of the latest advancements while also prioritizing our own mental health.
“What if I Can’t Afford Self-Pay Therapy?”
We get it. Self-pay therapy can feel like a pretty big financial stretch. But before you assume it’s completely out of reach, there are a few things to consider.
Health Savings Accounts
Many people use their HSA or FSA accounts to cover therapy sessions. These accounts offer HUGE tax savings rather than paying strictly out of pocket.
Out of Network Benefits
Out-of-network benefits mean that even though you’re still self-paying for your therapy sessions, you’re able to submit receipts to your insurance company for potential reimbursement. This isn’t always a guarantee and depends on your specific insurance plans, but this is a great option for lots of people!
Quick disclaimer: If patients want to use a superbill to seek out-of-network reimbursement, the paperwork would need to include a patient diagnosis.
Affordable Group Therapy
Here at Soultality, we noticed that when people join communities of like-minded individuals on similar paths, they lean on each other and feel better faster. We offer a wide variety of group sessions and almost always have a free group program in the mix. If jumping straight to self-pay therapy is a stretch, trying out a group program may be a perfect fit for you.
The Power of Choice in Your Mental Health Care
When it comes to mental health, you deserve care that puts YOU first.
At Soultality, we’re proudly self-pay, locally owned, and only affiliated with the local Boston University Student Health plan. We are not affiliated with any other insurance plans OR venture capital funds disguised as insurance companies. We’ve put in the work to operate a therapy practice here in Boston MA outside of insurance because we believe therapy should be private, flexible, and built around what actually helps you heal.
If you’re looking for therapy that works on YOUR terms, we’re here to help.
‘Cause therapy should never be about checking insurance boxes. It should be about you and only you.
Are you ready to start therapy? Schedule a call with one of our therapists and learn more about how we can help you.