Join the club – insurance companies are destroying the mental health profession:

Mr. Berman said that when he went into private practice in 1990, participating in the provider networks of various health insurance companies, his maximum allowable hourly billing rate was $95, with about half of that paid by the insurance company and the rest by the patient. Today, he said, rates have plummeted to the point that the usual total reimbursement for psychologists is $65 to $75 an hour.

This drop has forced many practitioners to nearly double their client load simply to maintain their income, he said. Not only are lower fees problematic, but there is also the issue of not being paid quickly by managed care companies, and often having to resubmit claims. The time required to complete paperwork is, of course, not billable.

(via World of Psychology)