California Therapy Reimbursement Rates by Payer: Aetna vs UnitedHealthcare (2026)

Aetna’s California HMO pays therapists about 20 percent more than UnitedHealthcare for a 60-minute session at the median. For psychologists and psychological testing, the order reverses.

The Aetna figures cover only Aetna’s HMO employer group plans in California. Aetna’s PPO and self-funded employer plans publish separate rate files that we have not read, and they may pay differently. Read every Aetna number on this page as what its HMO pays.

How Did We Compare Aetna and UnitedHealthcare in California?

We read each payer’s September 2026 rate files and kept clinicians whose registered practice address is in California.

• Aetna. All eight files from Aetna Health of California, the company that issues Aetna’s HMO plans in the state. That is 88 gigabytes of pricing data once unzipped.
• UnitedHealthcare. The behavioral health network file run by Optum, UnitedHealthcare’s sister company. UnitedHealthcare of California lists it in its price disclosures.

We matched every provider ID number against the federal NPPES registry and kept individual behavioral health clinicians. We kept negotiated rates billed as professional claims. For Aetna we also kept fee schedule rates, and we dropped reduced and discontinued testing rates billed with modifiers 52 and 53. The table counts each distinct clinician and rate pair once.

Many clinicians hold a rate from both payers. For those clinicians we compared their Aetna rate with their UnitedHealthcare rate directly, using the middle rate when a clinician has several at one payer. That shows how the payers differ for the same person, not just how their networks differ.

California Therapy Reimbursement Rates by Payer (2026 Table)

Each row comes from that payer’s machine readable files for the month shown, filtered to individual behavioral health clinicians with a California practice address.

The 60-minute session is where the payers differ most. Aetna’s 90837 median is $146.15 against UnitedHealthcare’s $121.33, a gap of about $25 a session. For first-hour testing, 96130, UnitedHealthcare leads by about 15 percent. The intake, 90791, is close.

UnitedHealthcare’s averages sit well above its medians for every code. Most of its clinicians are paid one of a few standard amounts, and a smaller group of contracts pays far more. Aetna’s averages sit close to its medians.

Does Aetna or UnitedHealthcare Pay California Therapists More for 90837?

Aetna’s HMO does, for most therapists, social workers and counselors who hold a 90837 rate from both payers. The lead is largest for marriage and family therapists and clinical social workers.

Two thirds of UnitedHealthcare’s California clinicians also hold an Aetna HMO rate, 9,368 in all. Comparing each one’s two rates gives these medians.

• Marriage and family therapists. Aetna $135.78, UnitedHealthcare $115.82. Aetna pays more for 85 percent of them.
• Clinical social workers. The same two medians. Aetna pays more for 83 percent.
• Counselors. Aetna $135.78, UnitedHealthcare $121.33. Aetna pays more for 77 percent.

The difference is about $20 a session for a therapist or social worker. These same-clinician medians sit below Aetna’s overall $146.15 because many clinicians hold several Aetna rates, and this comparison uses the middle one for each.

Does UnitedHealthcare Pay Psychologists More Than Aetna in California?

Yes. Of the 1,392 psychologists with a 90837 rate from both payers, UnitedHealthcare pays more for about seven in eight. Their median is $154.42 at UnitedHealthcare and $128.02 at Aetna, about $26 apart.

The reason is how each payer treats license. Optum’s standard fee schedule pays psychologists about a third more than therapists, as our UnitedHealthcare California behavioral health rates page shows step by step. Aetna’s HMO rates barely move with license. Across its whole California network, the 90837 medians are:

• Therapists, social workers and counselors. $146.15 at Aetna.
• Psychologists. $140.82 at Aetna, slightly below the therapists.
• Psychiatrists. $144.08 at Aetna, though most psychiatrists bill medication visits with other codes.

Psychiatric nurse practitioners land in between. Aetna pays more for about half of those listed by both, and the two medians are about $2 apart. Our Aetna California behavioral health rates page covers how Aetna lists rates by provider group.

Which Payer Pays More for Psychological Testing (96130) in California?

UnitedHealthcare, for nine in ten of the 2,713 clinicians with a 96130 rate from both payers. For psychologists in that group, its median is $126.32 against Aetna’s $109.75.

Aetna’s testing rate is nearly flat by license. Its 96130 medians run from $109.48 for therapists to $111.21 for psychiatrists. UnitedHealthcare pays psychologists and psychiatrists more for testing than it pays therapists.

The two payers also list testing very differently. Aetna attaches a 96130 rate to 33,332 California clinicians, most of its network. UnitedHealthcare lists one for 4,721, about half of them psychologists. Before you add testing hours, check that your own contract lists 96130 at all.

What This Means for Your Practice

Which payer pays more depends on your license, so rank them by credential first.

• Therapists, social workers and counselors. Aetna’s HMO pays about $20 more per 60-minute session for most clinicians listed by both. At 25 sessions a week, that is about $500 a week.
• Psychologists. UnitedHealthcare pays about $26 more per session and about $17 more for the first testing hour.

Then check your own numbers. A medians table cannot tell you where your contracts sit, and some clinicians are on the other side of each split. Pull your 90837, 90791 and 96130 amounts from each payer’s fee schedule and remittances. If one payer sits well below the median for your license, our guide to negotiating insurance contract rates covers how to ask for more. For Blue plans in other states, see our 90837 rates by state.

The contracted rate is only half of the picture. Fuse tracks what every payer actually pays on your claims, so you can see which payers pay what they agreed and which do not. Disclaimer: This article uses rate information from the Machine Readable Files that Aetna and UnitedHealthcare publish under the federal Transparency in Coverage rule. These files are posted to satisfy the regulation, not to be read, and Fuse built its own software to extract and verify the figures above. This analysis covers two payers and will not reflect rates from every insurer in California. Healthcare pricing changes frequently, and individual contracts and circumstances affect actual payment. This information does not guarantee specific pricing. Practices should verify current rates directly with each payer before relying on them for billing or negotiation decisions.