Who do you want making final decisions about your care? With direct pay you and your doctor decide what treatment plan is appropriate, not an out of state insurance company employee who has never met you.

Would you like appointments long enough to actually talk about your concerns? Insurance companies rewards rapid follow ups and dictate what we need to talk about to justify the billing code used. In direct pay we schedule the time that it takes to address your concerns.

Is your mental health worth investing in, or is the value of your joy coincidentally equal to the dollar amount of your copay? It can be enlightening to take an honest critical review of our financial priorities. I remember one individual with a set of brand new personal watercraft he had purchased sitting unused gathering dust in his driveway. We could drive boring practical cars, but often choose to drive something with a payment several hundred dollars a month higher because it meets an emotional need. What would your life look like if you met the true emotional need rather than continually trying to quiet that inner yearning with electronics, fancy clothes or cars? What price would you put on a loving relationship with your spouse, with your children or with yourself?

Do you value your privacy? When billing insurance your personal information is shared with a variety of other entities. Although legally mandated to follow state and federal privacy rules, data breaches are not going away anytime soon. The more times your data is electronically sent somewhere, the more risk of accidental or malicious exposure of your personal information. In direct pay unless you request a courtesy bill for your insurance company your information stays in our encrypted EMR, and is only releasable with your consent or in response to a valid court order.