How many clients can I lose after a rate increase and still come out ahead?

For any increase there is a break-even point: the share of clients you would have to lose for the raise to leave you exactly where you started. Raise your rates 8% and you could lose a little over 7% of your clients and still earn the same as before. Lose fewer than that and you are ahead, on a lighter caseload for the same income.

Does raising my rates change what insurance pays me?

No. Private-pay and out-of-network revenue moves when you raise your fee. Insurance-contracted rates changed the day you signed the fee schedule and change only when you renegotiate it, so if you are paneled, run the math on your private-pay slice only.

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Should you raise your rates?

September 27, 2026

Most solo owners don't raise their rates because they're afraid clients will leave. The math usually disagrees. When you raise a rate, the higher price on everyone who stays covers a surprising amount of the loss from anyone who doesn't. The free tool shows your new monthly income after an increase and the exact share of clients you could lose and still come out ahead.

One boundary before any math: this whole question is about the rates you set. Private-pay and out-of-network revenue moves when you raise your fee. Insurance-contracted rates don't; those changed the day you signed the fee schedule and change only when you renegotiate it. So if you're paneled, run everything below on your private-pay slice only.

The reason it feels riskier than it is: you picture the clients who leave, not the higher rate landing on the dozens who stay. Those quietly outweigh the few who go. So the useful question isn't "will anyone leave?" Some might. It's "how many could leave before this actually costs me?"

The number that answers it

For any increase, there's a break-even point: the share of clients you'd have to lose for the raise to leave you exactly where you started. Lose fewer than that and you're ahead. The math is cleaner than you'd expect. Raise your rates 8%, and you could lose a little over 7% of your clients and still earn the same as before. Anything short of that is money in your pocket, plus a lighter caseload for the same income.

Put real numbers on it. Say you're collecting about $14,000 a month in private-pay fees. Raise 8%, and if you lose 5% of your clients along the way, you're at roughly $14,400 a month, about $4,400 more a year, while seeing slightly fewer people. If nobody leaves, it's closer to $15,100. The tool runs this on your own book, including a more pessimistic loss number if you want to stress-test it.

Doing it without the drama

The increase that works is usually smaller and quieter than the one owners dread. A clear, early heads-up to current clients, the new rate for anyone starting now, and a small grandfathered runway for people who need it. Most of the clients you worried about don't blink. The ones who leave over a 5 or 8% increase were often the closest to leaving anyway. None of this is about squeezing anyone. It's about charging a rate that lets you keep the practice open and yourself not burned out.

A rate that's too low for too long is one of the quietest ways a solo practice runs its owner into the ground. If you want the rate decision in the context of everything else, what your practice nets you, what you can pay yourself, the free solo Snapshot puts it together in a few minutes, and nothing you enter leaves your browser.