Mar 12
Videoconferencing and telephone sessions will be phased in over the coming days, starting with New York appointments Monday, March 16, 2020. Full details to follow. Please subscribe to my website to receive automatic updates to your email.
I just noticed TherapySafetyNet was included in Frommer's NYC Free & Dirt Cheap, 5th Edition (2013) by Ethan Wolff. I founded TherapySafetyNet in 2007 to address the needs of uninsured New Yorkers. While we are currently winding down our operations because our mission has been fulfilled by the passage of the Affordable Care Act, I'm so pleased to see TherapySafetyNet receive this kind of attention in print, and hope that our presence in Frommer's will help uninsured New Yorkers find affordable care--whether by way of TherapySafetyNet through the end of 2013, or the New York State of Health thereafter.
After six years trying to help uninsured New Yorkers through my role directing TherapySafetyNet, there's light at the end of the tunnel: Solid plans at affordable premiums with mental health coverage included by law. Enrollment in New York's Health Benefit Exchange begins in October 2013. // Full post at TherapySafetyNet.org
In January 2013, New York State passed significant changes to its gun control law that impact mental health care in several ways, but should result in a negligible impact on psychotherapy in private practice settings. The new law is the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act of 2013, known as the NY SAFE Act. The governor's website now includes a summary of the law's key provisions and frequently asked questions. The full text of the law may be found here.
An interview with Geoffrey Steinberg, Psy.D., about how insurance policies affect therapy and are radically changing.
A few words from the perspective of TherapySafetyNet’s role in helping uninsured New Yorkers. Follow the link here: Affordable Care Act Upheld by Supreme Court.
In my role as Executive Director of TherapySafetyNet, I’m pleased to announce the addition of reduced fee psychiatric services as an additional benefit for uninsured clients engaged in reduced fee psychotherapy with a participating TherapySafetyNet clinician.
This benefit comes by way of our collaboration with Milan Patel, MD, who has joined TherapySafetyNet as consulting psychiatrist.
Our collaboration is intended to help the vast number of uninsured New Yorkers who fall between the cracks–not eligible for social services, yet not offered employer sponsored health insurance.
Dr. Patel’s involvment adds a much needed dimension to TherapySafetyNet, and was born out of talks held over the past few months both with Dr. Patel and among TherapySafetyNet’s executive committee.
Read the full announcement on TherapySafetyNet.org:
I came up with the concept of TherapySafetyNet in September 2007. I was receiving more calls from prospective clients than I could accept into my practice, and some of them stood out because they seemed stuck in a kind of benefits purgatory. Uninsured, their income was too high to qualify for social services, yet their employers offered no healthcare coverage. It was hit or miss to suggest alternate referrals to those prospective clients. While I’ve always got an assortment of excellent colleagues to suggest, at any given time most would have only one or two potential openings on a ‘sliding scale.’ At the same time, I had extra web site capacity, so I thought, is there any way these elements could be put together to help?
As of January 1, 2010, when the Wellstone-Domenici Mental Health Parity Act goes into effect, many clients are likely to see improvements in their insurance coverage for psychotherapy, such as lower deductibles, elimination of session limits, and lower out-of-pocket expenses.
Geoffrey Steinberg, Psy.D. 