Dr. Cooley participates in only the following insurance plans: Blue Cross, Medicare and insurers that use the Beech Street and Dimension provider networks. If you’re insured by one of these companies and have outpatient mental health benefits, Dr. Cooley will file your claims and your insurance will reimburse discounted rates. You’ll be responsible for deductibles and small copays. If you don’t have one of these plans, you’ll pay out-of-pocket, or “self-pay” for services. If you’re covered by any other health insurer, you can call and ask if you have “out-of-network outpatient” mental health benefits. If you have these benefits, you can “self-pay” Dr. Cooley and submit his receipts to your insurer.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield Insurance

• Covered Services: Professional services are covered if your evaluation or treatment results in a diagnosis of a mental, psychological or behavioral condition. Evaluations for learning disabilities or other educational testing, for example, are not covered by any insurance companies unless the person has a diagnosed problem”” in addition to a learning problem.
• Deductibles & copays: Blue Cross plans vary in their coverage of out-patient mental health benefits. Some plans also require that you get a pre-authorization before you consult a psychologist. To determine your benefits, call the 800 number on the back of your card. Ask for “out patient mental health benefits” and ask for the following information: 1) What is the deductible amount? 2) What is your office visit copay? 3) What is the maximum dollar amount or number of sessions allowed per year?

Why might I want to self-pay even if my insurance would pay?

Unfortunately, in our current health care system, diagnosed conditions on yourhealth insurance record become pre-existing conditions registered with the Medical Information Bureau. If you need to apply for an individual health insurance policy, life or disability insurance in the future, this pre-existing condition can jeopardize your insurability. Consequently, you may not want to file insurance even if you are covered, especially if 1) you have a very high deductible that hasn’t been satisfied or 2) your consultation and treatment will be relatively brief and affordable. The additional advantage to not using insurance is that your treatment will be entirely confidential unless you are involved in litigation where you must disclose all of your medical records. :: Learn more

Self Pay

Dr. Cooley’s fee for an initial one hour consultation is $175. Fees for subsequent 45-50 minute consultations and therapy are $155.00. Fees for psycho-educational testing and other specialized evaluations (see Services link) range from several hundred to well over one thousand dollars. Fees are due at the time of service paid by cash, check, Visa or Mastercard