Online Therapy Covered by UnitedHealthcare

Yes. Manhattan Mental Health Counseling is an all-telehealth practice in-network with UnitedHealthcare, so anyone located in New York State with UnitedHealthcare can see an in-network therapist by secure video, with no travel and no need to find someone in your neighborhood. Evening and weekend session times are available, subject to clinician availability.

MMHC is in-network with UnitedHealthcare employer plans, Oxford Health Plans, plans whose mental health benefit is administered by Optum (United Behavioral Health), UnitedHealthcare Individual and Family plans from NY State of Health (Compass), NYCE PPO, UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan and StudentResources plans. UMR-administered employer plans usually run on a UnitedHealthcare network with Optum behavioral health, and we confirm each employer's plan before you book; the plan table on this page shows what we check for every card.

For therapy claims, yes in practice. Optum is a UnitedHealth Group company that administers mental health and substance use benefits for most UnitedHealthcare plans through its United Behavioral Health unit, so your card may say UnitedHealthcare while your therapy network and claims run through Optum. We are in-network on the Optum side, and the behavioral health number on the back of your card reaches Optum.

Usually not. Most UnitedHealthcare and Oxford plans let you see an in-network therapist without a referral, and routine outpatient therapy usually does not need prior authorization (opens in a new tab) (advance approval from the plan). Gated plans such as UnitedHealthcare Navigate (opens in a new tab), Charter and Compass require a primary care referral for network specialists. UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage HMO plans (opens in a new tab) added a specialist referral rule in 2026, and UnitedHealthcare lists mental health providers and telehealth services among the exceptions, so a Medicare Advantage member does not need a PCP referral to see us; a plan that delegates care management to a medical group can run its own process. We confirm the rule for your exact plan during benefits verification, before you book.

There is no universal number. Under federal parity law and New York's parity rules, a plan cannot cap therapy visits more tightly than comparable medical visits, so on most UnitedHealthcare plans outpatient therapy continues as long as it is medically necessary and your plan stays active. Some plans review extended sessions or apply visit rules, and we confirm any limit on your plan before you book.

It depends on your plan design. Copay plans charge a flat copay from the first visit; high-deductible and HSA-qualified plans apply the contracted session rate until you meet the deductible, then a copay or coinsurance. We check which design you have and how much of your deductible remains, and tell you before you book.

Most members pay a flat copay. In MMHC's Q2 2026 billing data, UnitedHealthcare members averaged $24.81 per session; across our Cigna, Aetna and UnitedHealthcare clients, about 1 in 4 paid $0 and more than 3 in 4 paid $30 or less. If your plan applies a deductible, you pay the contracted rate until it is met. We confirm your exact cost before your first appointment; our self-pay rate, for members who prefer not to use insurance, is $200 for the first session and $175 per ongoing session.

Coverage varies by plan. Plans typically cover couples or family sessions (CPT 90847) as medically necessary treatment for an identified patient, which is different from general relationship or marriage counseling with no identified patient. Call 212‑960‑8626 and we will verify whether your UnitedHealthcare plan covers them and what your cost would be.

UnitedHealthcare covers outpatient psychotherapy by medical necessity, not by the name of the concern, so anxiety, depression, ADHD, PTSD and trauma, OCD, grief and the stress and burnout that usually present as anxiety or depression are all treated under the same outpatient benefit, and coverage follows medical necessity rather than method, so CBT, DBT, EMDR, psychodynamic work and family sessions run under that same benefit. Our 100+ therapists work across those concerns; see the conditions list on this page and the dedicated pages for anxiety, depression, ADHD and PTSD.

NYCE PPO (opens in a new tab), the plan that replaced GHI-CBP for City of New York employees, pre-Medicare retirees and their dependents on January 1, 2026, uses the Optum Behavioral Health network for mental health care (opens in a new tab) across the whole state, including the 13 downstate counties where medical care uses the EmblemHealth network, and behavioral health clinicians are paid under their Optum contract. MMHC is in-network on that Optum behavioral health contract, so NYCE PPO members can see an in-network MMHC therapist for outpatient therapy. We confirm your NYCE PPO copay and your matched therapist's network status with the plan before you book.

Yes to both. MMHC is in-network with UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans, including AARP-branded plans, and MMHC's clinicians are Medicare-enrolled; our Medicare Advantage page covers how those plans work; mental health providers and telehealth services are exempt from the 2026 HMO referral rule. MMHC is also in-network with UnitedHealthcare Community Plan (Medicaid managed care) and Dual Complete plans. We confirm your copay and any referral rule during benefits verification, before you book.

Sign in to your member account at uhc.com or the UnitedHealthcare app, open "Find Care" and filter for behavioral health; the public uhc.com/find-a-doctor (opens in a new tab) search works without signing in, and Optum-administered plans also list providers at liveandworkwell.com. A directory profile that says "accepts UnitedHealthcare" does not always mean in-network, since a practice can take your card and bill out of network, and directories often show clinicians who are not taking new patients. To confirm a specific therapist, ask for the clinician's full name and NPI once you are matched, then check it against your plan's directory or by calling the behavioral health number on your card and note the date, the representative's name and the reference number. Our team runs this check with UnitedHealthcare or Optum before your first session for every match; if a directory is out of date, the plan's own verification controls.

Call us at 212‑960‑8626 with the date of service and the explanation of benefits before you pay anything. An explanation of benefits (EOB) is the plan's statement of how it processed the claim; it is not a bill. When a claim for a session we verified as in-network is denied or underpaid, the cause is usually an eligibility, coding or coordination-of-benefits error, and we correct and resubmit it or appeal it with UnitedHealthcare. What you owe depends on the reason for the decision and your plan's terms, and we tell you where the claim stands and what, if anything, is yours to pay.

We rematch you. If your first therapist is not the right fit, tell us and we connect you with another MMHC clinician who is in-network on your plan, at no extra cost and without starting over; the Therapy Coordinator responds to rematch requests within one business day. If your plan changes, we re-verify your benefits and you usually keep the same therapist; if a clinician's participation with your plan ever changed, we would tell you and rematch you within MMHC at no extra cost.

We tell you during the verification call, before you book. You may still have out-of-network benefits: we provide superbills you can submit for possible reimbursement, and the amount your plan pays back depends on your out-of-network benefits. Our self-pay rate is $200 for the first 53-minute session and $175 per ongoing session.

Using insurance for psychotherapy requires a diagnosis that supports medical necessity, and each claim sent to UnitedHealthcare or Optum carries your member information, the date and format of the session, the diagnosis code and the procedure code (90837 for a standard session). Your session notes are not sent with routine claims, though a plan can request clinical records for a medical necessity review. Sessions are held over secure, HIPAA-compliant video and are protected by New York and federal confidentiality law, with the standard legal exceptions for imminent risk of harm to yourself or others and suspected abuse of a child or vulnerable adult. If you would rather keep therapy off your insurance record entirely, self-pay is available.

No. Manhattan Mental Health Counseling is a psychotherapy practice staffed by licensed mental health counselors (LMHC) and limited-permit counselors practicing under licensed supervision; we do not have psychiatrists or psychologists on staff, we do not prescribe or manage medication, and we do not perform psychological testing. UnitedHealthcare covers outpatient psychotherapy with an in-network mental health counselor under the same outpatient mental health benefit it applies to a psychologist's talk therapy, so you do not need a psychologist specifically to use your benefits for therapy. If you need medication or testing, we tell you during the verification call and point you toward an appropriate provider instead of booking a session that will not help.

Yes, tell us what matters to you. Every match is made by our Therapy Coordinator, who weighs your preferences alongside your goals, personality and clinical needs, and confirms the therapist is in-network on your plan. Our therapists offer sessions in English, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Georgian, Russian, Italian and Finnish, and the team page shows who offers each. We cannot promise every combination will be available at once, and if the first match is not right, we rematch you.

Yes. We work with clients ages 15 and up, including teenagers. For a teen, a parent or guardian can call us, and we confirm the plan details, including any dependent coverage rules, during benefits verification.

All sessions are online. Manhattan Mental Health Counseling is a telehealth-only practice with no in-person option, and you can attend from anywhere in New York State by secure video. If a directory lists us as offering in-person visits, the directory is out of date.