Transparent pricing: Estimating how much insurance will cover your RD services

Key Points

• The Affordable Care Act requires insurance companies to pay for nutrition services delivered by board-certified registered dietitian nutritionists.
• 95% of people who see a nutritionist through Fay pay less than $15 for their session.
• Sometimes, healthcare providers like Fay can’t guarantee a price due to limited information provided by insurance companies, but we do all that we can to get you the health support you need.

Everyone deserves to know the price of services before obtaining those services, and the US government seems to agree! The No Surprises Act, passed in 2020, prevents people from getting surprise medical bills over $400. While insurance companies are required to provide more information on pricing, they have not fully implemented the changes required by this new law. 

Fay’s pricing estimator uses information provided directly by your insurance company, so we may not always be able to guarantee your exact price because your insurance company is not yet able to provide that information to us. Even when we are almost certain your session will be covered by your insurance, we are not always legally allowed to guarantee you that due to restrictions from insurance providers.

In order to provide you with the more confidence to get the care you need, our team works hard to guarantee you the following:

• 95% of patients that book a nutritionist through Fay pay less than $15 per session.
• Our pricing estimator is 5x more accurate than calling your insurance company to verify benefits. 
• If your insurance does not cover the full cost of your session, our billing team will then dispute your claim and file a complaint on your behalf. Our billing team is able to reverse or overturn 80% of disputed or erroneous claims.
• We’re able to work with clients on a sliding scale basis, so if you have trouble paying the amount you owe after insurance, then we’ll always try our hardest to work with you on a pro-bono basis.

Our team is passionate about making sure you get the care you need as we partner with you on your new health journey. We don’t want limitations from the insurance company to prevent you from getting the care you need. After all, nutrition counseling is a benefit that is owed to you by the Affordable Care Act. In this post, we’ve put together some additional questions people ask themselves before booking a session with a nutritionist that accepts their insurance. 

How does Fay’s pricing tool work?

When you enter your insurance information in our pricing tool, we send that information directly to your insurance company to verify your eligibility and coverage. We also gather all the information your insurance company provides about the cost of your session. The information provided by this tool is exactly the information provided by your insurance company, and we don’t have any additional information other than what they provide to us. That said, we’re constantly working with these companies for more information, so we expect the tool to improve more over time.  

Why can’t you guarantee my price? 

As we mentioned above, we are restricted by the information the insurance company provides to us. The results of our pricing tool are specific to your exact insurance policy and come directly from your insurance company. Even if we are 99% certain of the cost of your session based on what people with your plan have paid in the past, your insurance company restricts us from guaranteeing a specific price to you. But since 95% of people pay less than $15 per session, you should feel confident finding a nutritionist that accepts your insurance through Fay.

Is there anything else I can do?

Normally, we’d recommend you call the number on the back of your insurance card to understand your benefits better; however, because medical nutrition therapy (MNT) is such an underutilized benefit, we’ve found that our pricing estimator is up to 5x more accurate than the information your insurance company can provide over the phone. The best way to ensure you use this nutrition benefit is by booking with a trusted network, such as Fay, which has a track record for getting these claims covered and specializes in the kind of healthcare services you’re looking to obtain.

If insurance companies are required to provide pricing transparency, why don’t they always guarantee the cost of nutrition services?

The No Surprises Act was passed relatively recently, and insurance companies are prioritizing implementing and providing information for very high-cost services (e.g., emergency room visits or surgeries). Because nutrition therapy sessions are very affordable, they fall under the $400 threshold set by the act. Therefore, not all insurance companies have prioritized ultra-transparent pricing for nutrition services covered by insurance.

Should you get care?

If you think meeting with a nutritionist can help get you on the right track to make changes that improve your health, then don’t let a slight price uncertainty cost you your health and wellbeing. The Affordable Care Act requires insurance companies to provide nutrition counseling benefits to you, so if you have insurance, then you generally don’t have to worry.

Neglecting your health can lead to far more expensive and costly healthcare procedures down the road, so investing a few dollars in your health now is a decision that will pay off.

Fay makes it easy to book an appointment with a vetted, board-certified nutritionist, and we guarantee that all providers in our network accept your insurance. Get started today.