Online therapy has seen rapid growth over the past 5 years, mostly in part because of a simultaneous desire to seek therapy but also from the comfort of one’s own home. However, online therapy may have licensed therapists from around the world, and the service itself may transcend national barriers, but the US has different licensing and regulation laws within different states.
Fortunately for California, most of the major online therapy sites like Betterhelp, Talkspace, Amwell, and Calmerry all accept Californian clients. Unlike physical practitioners, there are countless online therapy sites to choose from as seen on www.bestonlinetherapy.com/.
How much does face-to-face therapy cost in Santa Monica?
The major driver in online therapy’s growth was also the price. Not just the promotions that tech companies come up with, but that it’s cheaper than traditional therapy due to the lack of overheads. This is even more prevalent in Santa Monica, a place where rent and wages are sky-high.
$150 for an hour session is a common figure that we come across in Santa Monica for a face-to-face therapy session with a licensed therapist. However, there are many quotes online, such as a 75-minute session with Dr. Eileen Escarce, which will set you back $350 – or $270 for 50 minutes.
However, online therapy on the other hand is closer to the $65-99 mark. Many of these models are subscriptions too, which includes instant messaging between sessions. For example, Calmerry is an impressive $51.99 for the first month ($74.99 onwards) for one weekly video session per week and unlimited text messaging.
So, whilst online therapy is generally cheaper for those in lower-cost-of-living states like Alabama, the savings can be greater for California residents.
Is online therapy covered by insurance?
In general, many insurance companies in California will cover online therapy services, much like they would cover traditional therapy. However, the issues lay more on the service provider side of things, as only some accept insurance whatsoever.
BetterHelp, which is an industry leader, does not accept insurance, but its main competitor Talkspace does. ReGain is a subsidiary of BetterHelp, meaning they do not accept insurance, and neither does Calmerry or Online-Therapy.com, but Amwell and Cerebral do. Ultimately, it’s a matter of being a case-by-case situation.
Medicare and Medicaid
Although this rule may not be perfect, many of the companies that accept insurance also accept Medicare and Medicaid, whilst the companies that do not accept insurance will not accept Medicare or Medicaid.
Federal Medicare has in recent years changed its approach to include telehealth services, like online therapy, to be seen in closer equivalence as traditional healthcare.
When it comes to state-specific Medicaid, or in Santa Monica’s case, Medi-Cal, many plans will cover online therapy services. However, not only is it important to check the plan, the reimbursement rates for online therapy may be lower than in-person therapy because they know there’s a price difference.
The benefits of online therapy
Online therapy is perfect for the busy, 21st-century lives of long work hours and packed schedules. The major benefits are being able to instantly connect to a therapist from home (or wherever), as opposed to the longer administration and transportation of in-person therapy.
Because of this accessibility, it also makes things more flexible. Scheduling is made easy with tech-centric communication, along with the benefits of remaining anonymous or potentially keeping communication to just text messaging, if that makes them more comfortable.
Finally, online therapy is simply cheaper. If you subscribe to a plan, which is likely much cheaper than a traditional session, you can usually switch therapists (or even pick the therapist using bios), keeping things great value for money. Plus, there are many promotions.
Is online therapy as effective as in-person traditional therapy?
Ultimately, the key question comes down to whether online therapy works – or if it works as well as the tried-and-tested in-person therapy. CBT, among other techniques, has been shown to be profoundly useful over the years.
The studies so far have shown countless times that online therapy, in particular when administering the hegemonic CBT course, is equally as effective as traditional in-person sessions. Some studies even show it to be more effective.
Can online therapy facilitate psychiatry?
However, what is less researched is how online therapy deals with psychiatry. Some psychiatrists (which is a completely separate field from psychologists) like to rely on more physical interactions, such as reading body language. Plus, the stakes are sometimes higher when dealing with prescriptions and severe mental disorders like schizophrenia.
Whilst some sites shy away from offering psychiatry, many do a great job at offering it as an option. Whilst some patients may benefit from an in-person diagnosis, psychiatry often involves ongoing therapy, which is proven to be effective when done remotely, as well as medication management, which can effectively be done online.
This actually opens the door up to a highly useful all-in-one offering: Sites like Amwell can become a place to medicate, manage, and therapize, as well as see a GP for other issues. This centralization can have profound benefits due to internal record-keeping and frictionless collaboration between departments, as opposed to dealing with many different (and often outdated) practitioners.
