I am now an in-network provider of a new health insurance plan: MagnaCare.

I’m also an in-network provider for MVP, Value Options, Tricare, Military One-Source, Compysch, and EBS-RMSCO.

In case you aren’t up on insurance terminology, in-network means I am able to bill the insurance company directly for you. When I am out-of-network, you have to pay me first and then submit claims for reimbursement. Sometimes they reimburse, sometimes they don’t, depending on your policy.

I have applied to be in-network for every insurance plan I have come across, but most limit the number of providers they will work with so they can control them better. Consequently, many people who need mental health services have a hard time finding providers who “take” their insurance. This is not the provider’s doing, it is the insurance companies that limit access to their networks. Many states have “any willing provider” laws that require insurance companies to work with any licensed provider the consumer chooses. That is not the case in New York, however, where the insurance companies hold all the cards.

It’ll stay that way until people talk to their insurance companies about expanding their provider panels, or talk to their employers about choosing insurance plans with real access to care, or talk with their state legislators about giving consumers the right to chose who they see for therapy.