Massage therapists do get ripped.... My insurance pays 120.00 per hour massage, my co pay is $20.00. I always add a tip of $10.00. So I found out that basically she only gets paid $20.00 per massage plus my $10.00 tip. If I pay her privately she will get $60.00 per massage but I'll just have to go down to once per every two weeks instead of once per week. So it's the Drs office that will lose.