On a daily basis I get calls from people seeking individual therapy, relationship counseling, or services for their kids (youth or adults). Most of the time their healthcare insurance is either: Florida Blue, Anthem, Blue Cross & Blue Shield, Aetna, Cigna, or others.
One of the benefits of those and other healthcare companies is that whenever you pay for your healthcare insurance, you are also provided with what is called EAP Benefits. EAP is an acronym for Employee Assistance Program. With your EAP benefits you have access to many services that you pay little to nothing for which includes:
- Crisis Management
- Retirement Planning
- Wellness Care
- Nutritional Services
- Counseling/Therapy
- And much more
Yes as stated above you can receive counseling at no cost. Well, technically it isn’t free because you pay for it as a part of your healthcare benefits. However, many people don’t realize that and spend thousands of dollars on therapy each year.
As a matter of fact, you could get up to 10 sessions depending on what your company negotiated with your healthcare agency. With being said, here is the six step process.
Step 1: Call Your Insurance Company
- When you call your insurance company ask them who is the EAP company they utilize. Once you get their number.
Step 2: Contact The EAP Company
- When you call, tell them that you’d like to use your EAP benefits for counseling i.e. family, relationship, teen, substance abuse, individual, etc.
Step 3: Give the EAP company your therapist’s name (Just a side note the term Counselor, Therapist, and Provider are used interchangeably.)
- During the conversation give them the name of the therapist you will be utilizing. If it is me my name is Merland Baker. I am an EAP Provider for the following companies:
- New Directions
- Cigna
- Aetna
- ESI
- Health Advocate
- E4
- Workplace Options
Step 4: Provider Search
- After giving them the Counselor’s name they will search their database to confirm if that individual is a Provider on your EAP plan.
Step 5: Authorization Number
- Once confirmed they will either give you an authorization number, mail it, email it to the Provider, and/or call the Provider to insure that an appointment is available. In addition to this they may follow-up with you to make sure things are going as planned.
Step 6: Make The Appointment
- Once you have gotten the authorization and contacted your Provider. They (the Therapist) will set-up an appointment for you to receive services.
Bonus Step
- Sometimes if a Provider is not listed they will still grant you services through another company. After reading this article and you still have questions call us 904-447-5931 or send us an email. Schedule an appointment today rb.gy/mluhmh.