Ginger.io is specifically designed to help people with the hectic schedules and busy lives they are leading. However, how do you get full access to Ginger, and do you have to pay for using the program?
Ginger does not share its pricing rates, and it is known to have several subscription tiers, but only registered companies with verifiable employees can access them. As an employee, you do not have to pay anything unless using some additional services that your health insurance does not cover.
If you are about to start using Ginger’s services, it is good that you inform yourself about the pricing and whether you will be asked to pay for something. This article encompasses the company’s policies regarding payments and what you will need to provide to access the online therapy program. Here, I will also compare Ginger to other online mental health therapy programs to know what benefits you have at your disposal when using Ginger.
Do You Have To Pay For Ginger?
If you have previously read and researched Ginger.io, you have probably noticed that the company does not share its pricing rates anywhere online. This is because Ginger is only available to registered companies that have verified employees, and they usually work in collaboration with the companies’ health care providers. In other words, employees do not have access to the pricing rates, only their employers do, and due to this, employees do not have to pay for coaching and therapy services.
Therefore, you may have Ginger as a benefit from your employer and health plan, and you can use it throughout the whole year. However, when starting using Ginger, you are still required to provide payment information, although you know that your employer enables you to use the service. You might wonder why this is necessary if the whole program is free for the employees.
Nonetheless, Ginger requires users to provide their payment information
to keep a file of the services they use. Also, there might be some additional fees that you might need to pay for if your health plan or employer does not cover them. For instance, you will be charged if your health insurance does not cover deductibles and copays or if your employer does not include clinical visits in the coverage.
In addition, you might be required to pay if you cancel an appointment with a notice that has happened in less than 24 hours. However, this also depends on the health plan of your employer or insurance. Nonetheless, you will always be informed before charging, so you would know that a certain amount will be deducted from your credit card.
How Much Does Ginger Cost?
As I mentioned before, Ginger does not share their rates anywhere on the internet, as they are only accessible to companies that might provide Ginger services for their employees. However, according to a post published by TheNextWeb in 2017, there are three subscription tiers, with the prices rated at $129, $249, and $349. The rates are according to the level of services you intend to use, i.e., types of therapy and psychiatry sessions.
So, employers are probably given these pricing rates, and they determine what they can provide for their employees according to the health plans. Therefore, employees do not have to pay for anything; however, if they want a certain type of therapy or psychiatry session, and the employer’s plan does not cover it, they will need to pay. In other words, you might use Ginger as an employee for no cost at all, but certain limitations depend on your employer or health plan.
Does Your Employer Know That You Are Using Ginger Services?
Even if your employer is the one who provides the Ginger mental health services, you might not feel comfortable knowing that you are using the services. Even though seeking help for mental health issues is quite common today, you still may feel like that should be discreet and without even knowing. And that is quite okay because not everything you do should be exposed to the public eyes.
That being said, you should not be concerned whether your employer knows or not because the services you get from Ginger are completely confidential. This means that your employer does not have access to Ginger members even if they are from their company or organization. Ginger tends to keep everything private, and no individual is exposed to their employer or other people that work in the company.
Although Ginger keeps the members’ data, they do not share that kind of information with anyone. Your employer might only know the number of people from the company that uses Ginger services, but they do not have access to names. Also, your employer might be aware of possible employee issues, but that is only “the big picture,” as nothing is particularly shared with them.
Therefore, you should rest assured that everything you discuss with Ginger’s mental health experts is kept confidential and fully protected. If you want to find more details on this question, you can read the Privacy Statement and Terms of Service that Ginger has provided.
What Happens To Your Ginger Membership If You Leave Your Current Company?
As established before, Ginger is only available to employees through their employers, i.e., Ginger works only with companies and their health care providers. This means that individually, you cannot get access to this mental health program. Therefore, you might assume that if you leave your company, you will not be able to use the program anymore.
However, Ginger will not leave you even if you change your employer. In other words, you have the option to continue using Ginger coaching or therapy. However, it will no longer be covered by your employer. That means that you will have to pay yourself for the services you are using from Ginger.
You will have to call the Member Support team and request that they set up your paid membership. You will have that done in a few minutes, so you will not be required to wait or anything. You will continue to use the Ginger services the same way as before.
Is Ginger The Only Online Therapy Program That Does Not Require Payments From The Members?
You might think that Ginger would be the best option since you do not have to pay a dime. However, Ginger could be difficult to access unless your employer provides it for you. That means that if your company does not cooperate with Ginger, then you will not be able to use its services in any way.
Nonetheless, there are other online therapy programs that you might find helpful. For instance, BetterHelp and Calmerry are quite similar to Ginger.io since they provide similar services, i.e., they can help you with different mental health issues that you might struggle with. However, they offer different types of therapies, and they require weekly or monthly payments.
In addition, they also have different terms and policies about payments. For instance, BetterHelp offers deals for longer periods of time, while Calmerry requires payments every week. Both of the online therapy programs have deals and discounts that might make your treatment more affordable.
It is known that BetterHelp is a pricey program, but it covers a wide range of mental health issues that people deal with daily. On the other hand, Calmerry is cheaper and offers unlimited texting for the plan you choose. Nonetheless, people choose them for different reasons and find them quite helpful since they see quick improvements in their treatments.
If you are interested in the price rates of BetterHelp and Calmerry, I have provided them below.
BetterHelp Prices
As I already mentioned, BetterHelp is a pricey program, or maybe it is one of the most expensive ones. However, it encompasses a lot of things. Therefore people love using it. You should know that if you intend to use this program for a longer period of time, you will be required for a longer membership, so your rate would be less expensive.
The weekly membership rate is $80, while the one month would cost you $260. When you are paying for the whole month, your membership will cost you $65 per week. In addition, you can make your subscription even less expensive by paying $540 for each quarter of a year. That way, one week on BetterHelp will be $45.
Lastly, the least expensive way would be to pay for your membership for the whole year. The membership for one whole year would be $1,820, meaning that you will be paying $35 per week. However, even though this is the cheapest way to a BetterHelp membership, some people do not like to be obliged to a program the whole year.
Some believe that they will not need it for the whole year, while others think they will not like it. So they do not want to risk their money on something that they have not tried yet, at least not long enough.
Calmerry Prices
Calmerry is a cheaper online therapy program in comparison to BetterHelp. The starting price for Calmerry is $45 per week. However, the price might vary depending on the different types of therapies and sessions it offers. Calmerry offers you the chance to pay weekly for their services or monthly if that is a more convenient option for you.
Nonetheless, you should know that you get more benefits from the program by paying the monthly rate, which is $359. For instance, you will get unlimited sessions via texting and four 30-minute video sessions. According to many reviews, Calmerry is one of the cheapest online platforms that offers mental health care treatments.
What is more, Calmerry gives a free trial week, a feature that many people enjoy. No one wants to spend money on something they have not tried. Therefore trials do the trick. It is known that people would rather choose the platform that gives them the free trial than the one that immediately gets them to pay.
So, if you cannot use Ginger at no cost, then BetterHelp and Calmerry might be good options. So far, these platforms are not covered by health insurance, and they do not work with companies and organizations to enable access to employees as Ginger does. However, they are quality therapy programs, and people have been quite satisfied with them.
Do Online Therapy Platforms Protect Credit Card Information Of Their Members?
Platforms such as Ginger, BetterHelp, and Calmerry, are known to be quite protected and confidential, and they assure their members that their credit card information is certainly safe with them. They tend to take privacy very seriously, and it is their top priority, so their members would feel safe.
For instance, Ginger uses a payment processor called Stripe that secures credit card information and allows Ginger not to have an obligation to store the credit card data of their members.
As you could see, you are not required to pay to use Ginger unless you use some particular therapies or psychiatry sessions. However, your employer is the only one who can give you access to this platform, meaning that that is the only way for you to use the Ginger services.