Everything You Need To Know For Insurance Reimbursement
Many clients with health insurance plans submit their superbills to seek reimbursement for their therapy costs. This can be a helpful option for clients who need financial support with their investment in therapy.
What Is A Superbill?
A superbill is a detailed receipt for your therapy sessions. It includes the information your insurance company needs to consider reimbursing you.
How Much Gets Reimbursed?
On average, our clients get 50–90% of their session fee reimbursed. It really depends on the client's health insurance plan. Some clients have gotten their whole session fee reimbursed, minus their co-pay. Clients with more restrictive HMO plans, on the other hand, may not receive any reimbursement at all. There's a lot of variation.
Insurers don't always base reimbursement on your therapist's actual fee. Instead, they reimburse a percentage of their "allowed amount" — the insurance company's own number for what they consider a fair rate for the service. If that number is lower than what you paid, your reimbursement will be too.
For example, your therapist might charge $250, but your insurance might set their "allowed amount" at $225. If your insurance offers 80% reimbursement, you'd receive $180 per session from your insurance in reimbursement. This would be 80% of their $225 “allowed amount”, not 80% of the therapist’s fee of $250 that you actually paid.
Sometimes it works the other way too! All insurance plans are different, and some "allowed amounts" might even be higher than your therapist's fee. For example, one insurance company might set an "allowed amount" of $300, while your therapist's fee is $275. In this case, your insurance would base your reimbursement on the $275, since insurers reimburse whichever amount is lower.
If your insurance has an “allowed amount” of $300, your therapist charges $275, and your insurance reimburses 80%, then you would receive a reimbursement of $220 from your insurance per session.
We know insurance language can be genuinely confusing, even for people who read this stuff all the time. Take a breath. The rest of this guide breaks the process down into simple, manageable steps.
If you need the financial support of insurance, we truly recommend exploring your benefits to identify your reimbursement options.
Understanding Deductibles
Keep in mind: reimbursement isn't guaranteed, since it depends entirely on your specific insurance plan. Some plans offer generous out-of-network benefits, some require you to meet a deductible first, and some don't cover out-of-network mental health care at all.
What is a deductible? An insurance deductible is the amount of money you must pay out of pocket for services before your insurance company starts contributing.
Representatives will often share your deductible amount and the percentage they'll reimburse once it's met. For example, they may say you need to pay $500 toward your health services (therapy or any other medical expenses) before they'll reimburse 60% of your therapy session fees going forward.
Here's how that would work in practice: if your therapist charges $250 a session, you'd pay for two sessions on your own first, then send those superbills to your insurance to show you've met your $500 deductible. From your next session on, you'd still pay $250 upfront to your therapist, but this time the superbill you submit to your insurance, would get you 60% back. That reimbursement comes directly from your insurance as a mailed check or direct deposit to you.
Checking Your Benefits Before You Start
If you want to check on reimbursement before scheduling a session with us, we recommend utilizing our Benefits Tool or calling your insurer to ask what your out-of-network mental health benefits look like.
If you'd like to contact the member services department, the number is on the back of your insurance card.
We recommend saying the following:
1. If I am seeing an out-of-network provider, may I submit superbills for reimbursement?
2. Tell them whether you plan to see your Nido IFT therapist in person or virtually.
3. It's always best to give them the CPT code we'll be using: 90837 (this is the standard billing code insurers use to identify the type of service — in this case, an individual psychotherapy session).
4. If they ask for your provider's information, share their name, license type, and NPI number — the National Provider Identification Number, a unique ID insurers use to identify individual healthcare providers.
For example:
1. Name: Sarah Finch
2. License Type: LMFT (Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist)
3. NPI (National Provider Identification Number): 1508373051
We always recommend getting the name of the representative you spoke with and a reference number for the call.
If your insurance confirms you can submit superbills for reimbursement, here are the instructions:
Step 1: Get Your Superbill
1. Check your email inbox for a message from Nido IFT’s SimplePractice, or log into your Nido IFT SimplePractice client portal anytime to access your superbills.
2. Look for a document called your "Superbill" — it's usually a PDF.
3. Download it and save it somewhere you'll remember — like a folder on your desktop called "Insurance" or your phone's Files/Downloads app.
4. Open it to make sure it looks complete: your name, session dates, and your therapist's name should all be there. If anything is missing or incorrect, email your therapist directly before moving to the next step. Your therapist can edit the error and send you a new copy.
Step 2: Submit Your Superbill Online
1. Find your insurance card. Flip it over. Look for a website listed on the back.
2. Go to that website on your smartphone or computer, or search for your insurance company's app in the App Store (for example, "Sydney Health" for Anthem, or "myCigna" for Cigna).
3. Log in using your member ID number (found on the front of your insurance card) and your account password. If you've never logged in before, look for a "Register" or "Create Account" button and follow the prompts to first create an account.
4. Once logged in, look for a menu option along the top or side of the screen — something labeled "Claims," "Submit a Claim," "Reimbursement," or "Member Reimbursement."
5. Click on that section. It will usually ask you to fill out a short form or upload a file.
6. When it asks you to upload a file, choose the superbill PDF you saved in Step 1.
7. Fill in any additional fields it asks for (these are usually already on your superbill, so you can just copy them over — things like the date of service or provider name).
8. Look for a "Submit" or "Send" button at the bottom of the page.
9. After you submit, a confirmation message or number should appear on the screen. Take a screenshot of it, or write it down somewhere safe.
If at any point you get stuck, call the Member Services number on the back of your card and say: "I'm trying to submit a superbill for reimbursement online and I'm needing support." They can walk you through it step by step, or tell you if you need to submit by mail instead.
Step 3: Wait for a Response
Insurance companies usually take 2 to 4 weeks to process a claim. They'll mail or email you an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) — a letter explaining how much they're paying you back.
If your EOB shows a denial or only a partial payment, call Member Services and ask for the specific reason. Sometimes it's a simple coding or information issue that can be corrected and resubmitted.
Step 4: Get Your Reimbursement Money From Your Insurance
Once approved, your reimbursement will arrive either as a check in the mail or as a direct deposit to your bank account, depending on your insurance's payment preferences.
Staying on Top of It
After this, we recommend continuing to submit your superbills monthly. If you ever need a body double to log into your insurance account and submit your superbills, feel free to ask your Nido IFT therapist to do a quick body-double task at the start of one of your therapy sessions.
Tips to Avoid Delays
• Submit your superbill as soon as you get it — most insurance companies have a deadline, typically between 90 days and 1 year from the date of service.
• Keep a copy of your superbill saved somewhere you can find it.
• If you don't hear back within 4 weeks, log back into the portal to check your claim status, or call Member Services with your confirmation number ready.
Things to Know About Superbills
• Keep your superbills and EOBs for tax purposes — therapy can be a deductible medical expense, and you may need these records at tax time. Learn more about deducting therapy on your taxes here.
• For most calendar-year plans, deductibles reset on January 1st. If you start therapy in December, keep in mind you may hit your deductible right as it resets for the new year. However, some plans don't follow this same schedule. Check your plan's renewal date to learn about yours specifically.
This guide is general information, not a guarantee of reimbursement. Nido IFT isn't able to guarantee outcomes with your insurance company or intervene on your behalf in a claims dispute.