12/02/2025
Someone reached out to me recently and asked how I’m different from other Functional Medicine providers.
She told me she hadn’t had good experiences and that surprised me, so I asked why. She said every provider had her fill out long intake forms (which I also use), but then they assumed they already knew what was wrong with her and didn’t really listen. That surprised me even more—because in Functional Medicine, what a patient says matters just as much, if not more, than lab results.
I asked her another question: “Were they cash-based or insurance-based?”
She said, “I never paid—insurance covered everything.”
And there was my answer.
This is why I don’t take insurance. You have to work in healthcare to truly understand this from the provider side. When you take insurance, you are required to follow their rules—what you can treat, how you can treat it, and how much time you’re allowed to spend. Providers are not paid for doing what’s best for the patient, only for what insurance allows. Many deliver excellent care within those limits, but they are still working inside someone else’s system.
True Functional Medicine takes time. It isn’t rushed visits, quick diagnoses, or a single lab report. It’s about learning who a person really is, identifying root causes, and developing a personalized plan—not a protocol.
I know providers who have taken insurance and been audited or fined for doing the right thing and trying to get paid for it. I’ve also been told directly, “If you take insurance, you have 20 minutes.” That is not how I practice. Ask my patients how much time they get.
Real Functional Medicine is not rushed, not cookie-cutter, not standardized by insurance rules. It is built around the patient—not the system. That’s why I don’t take insurance.
This is also why I will join a separate practice to offer insurance-based psychiatric care. I want care to be accessible. But it will be conventional psychiatry—and it will feel like practicing with one hand tied behind my back.
We don’t operate as a cash-based practice out of greed. We do it because this type of medicine requires advanced training, time, and clinical freedom. And you cannot serve two masters if your patient is meant to be at the center of care.