Insurance
Does our practice take UnitedHealthcare?
We accept UnitedHealthcare for psychiatric evaluation, medication management, and therapy. Behavioral benefits are commonly administered under the Optum name, so read us both and our billing team will sort out which applies to you.
Adult & Child Counseling & Psychiatric Center accepts UnitedHealthcare at our Melbourne office, for psychiatric evaluation, medication management, and therapy. If you have searched this already and come away unsure, the reason is usually Optum: behavioral health benefits on many UnitedHealthcare plans are administered under the Optum name, so the card in your wallet and the organization that answers a mental health question are not labeled the same thing.
UnitedHealthcare and Optum are not two different insurers
Optum and UnitedHealthcare are parts of the same company. Optum Behavioral Health is the operation that administers behavioral benefits for many UnitedHealthcare plans, which is why a search for one name keeps returning the other and neither result looks wrong.
You may notice both names on our list of accepted plans. That is the same reason. In practice it means the card says UnitedHealthcare, the behavioral network is administered under Optum, and a patient reasonably concludes they are dealing with two insurers and cannot work out which to ask. There is one plan. There are two names attached to it, and our billing team is used to holding both at once.
Why the distinction shows up late
The two names do different jobs. Enrollment, premiums and medical claims sit with UnitedHealthcare. Which behavioral providers a plan covers, and whether an authorization is needed to see one, are answered on the Optum side.
So a member who rings the number on the front of the card about a psychiatry appointment may be transferred, or may be given an answer that is right about medical and wrong about behavioral. Reading both names to our billing team at the start of a call saves that round trip.
A directory search under one name settles nothing
Because two names are attached to one plan, a member directory searched under one of them can paint a different picture than the same directory searched under the other. People rule a practice out on that basis, and the practice never hears about it.
It takes a short phone call to settle instead. Give our billing team the member ID, the group number if there is one, and the plan name exactly as it is written on the card, and we will confirm it with the plan directly rather than with a search box.
Common questions
- Is Optum the same as UnitedHealthcare?
- They are parts of the same company. Optum administers behavioral health benefits for many UnitedHealthcare plans, so a single plan can carry both names. That is why both appear on our list of accepted plans.
- My card says UnitedHealthcare and nothing about Optum. What do I ask for?
- Ask about behavioral health benefits and give the plan name as printed on the card. If the plan's behavioral benefits are administered under Optum, the person you reach will know. Or read the card to our billing team and let us make the call.
- I found this practice listed under one name but not the other. Which is right?
- Neither search settles it, because the two directories can disagree. The plan itself is the reliable source. Call our office with the card to hand and our billing team will confirm it directly.
Not every provider takes every plan listed here, and plans change. Call our office first. We will check your plan for the provider you want to see.
Also see Medicaid, TRICARE, Medicare, Florida Blue, Aetna, Cigna, or the full list of plans we accept.
Call to verify your coverage
Our billing team checks your benefits before your first appointment, not after.