Therapists who accept Aetna

Using Aetna for therapy

Aetna covers outpatient mental-health care across most of its plans, including HMOs, PPOs, EPOs, and the Aetna Open Choice plans common in commercial group coverage. Federal mental-health parity rules require Aetna to cover mental health at terms comparable to medical — same copay structure, same deductible logic, same session limits or none. What varies, plan to plan, is the specific dollar figure on copay and coinsurance, whether your deductible has been met, and whether your specific therapist is in-network.

The therapists in this directory who accept Aetna are in-network with the major Aetna products in their state. Sessions billed in-network typically come with a copay between $20 and $50 depending on plan, or coinsurance after deductible if you're on a higher-deductible plan. Aetna does not require a referral from a primary-care physician for outpatient mental-health care in most plans — you can self-refer. Telehealth sessions are reimbursed at the same rate as in-person on virtually all Aetna plans post-2020.

Before your first session, it's worth a quick call to the member services number on the back of your Aetna card to confirm three things: that outpatient mental-health is covered on your specific plan, what your copay or coinsurance is for in-network therapy, and whether your deductible has been met. If you'd rather skip that call, our intake coordinator can verify coverage with the therapist's billing team on your behalf.

If a therapist you want to see is out-of-network with Aetna, most Aetna plans still provide partial out-of-network reimbursement — typically 50 to 70 percent of the session fee after an out-of-network deductible is met. You'd pay the therapist directly and submit a superbill (an itemized receipt the therapist provides) to Aetna for reimbursement. Whether this is worth it depends on the specific plan's out-of-network benefits.

To get matched with an Aetna-accepting therapist, submit the form or browse the profiles below.