Why don't health insurers cover acupuncture treatment?

13 years ago

This puzzles me. Supposedly, my husband has a "good" health insurance provider through his job with the city, and yet, according to their website, they do not cover acupuncture treatments.

I've had acupuncture treatments a few times and found it to be a real blessing. However, it's about $85 a treatment where I live (which is the going rate).

Yet that's gotta be a much cheaper treatment than traditional therapies and drugs. Why don't they cover this very old (and trusted) alternative therapy?

Rose

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (10)

jannie
13 years ago
In answer to your question, I don't know. I believe it's considered "Alternative Medicine" and should be "covered" by insurance. The best way to deal with any dispute with insurance is to file an Appeal. Suggest you do so. Get a copy of their written policy , i.e. "ABC Insurance will not pay for acupuncture treatments." Then write a letter stating that you disagree. Keep copies of everything. Good luck.
jel48
13 years ago
We had the same problem when my son was a teenager. Took him 75 miles for acupuncture treatments which really seemed to work well. But the cost of the treatments (not covered at all by insurance) plus the half day off it took to get him there and back each time, just didn't work out for very long. IT would have been MUCH cheaper and MUCH MORE beneficial then all the meds they paid for him to try and take (and which didn't work well anyway).
Related Discussions
Any Seniors choosing health insurance?
Q
Comments (2)
We just went through switching DH from Secure Horizons, which is a medicare advantage plan to original medicare with Part D prescription drug plan plus medigap supplemental insurance plan. Before we did anything I spent weeks reading and digesting, trying to sort out what -- to me -- is a swamp. I am happy to share what I learned. chisue-- My DH's medicare advantage plan, which has 0 annual cost plus drug copays *is* an hmo. It's hard to generalize as these things vary from state to state and company to company. But, essentially, if an advantage plan covers you only if you see doctors in their network and only allows you to purchase drugs on their formulary then it *is* an hmo. That system worked fine for DH until he developed a rare medical problem. Then suddenly no docs took his insurance and all the consults were 100% not insured. Medicare approved supplemental insurance plans basically cover deductions, extra doctor's fees, extra hospital fees and a variety of other things such as skilled nursing, or at home care depending on what you choose. They run A (the most basic) through L or M -- each cover different things. If you only need drugs, it may be possible for you to get a drug plan under medicare Part D. Not sure how that would gibe if you are otherwise covered by your DH's insurance but medicare can tell you. They also would walk you through choosing a drug plan. It's complicated and you're basically making a best guess but they have a computer program that shows you approximately how much each drug plan costs and what it involves. Having a computer is a huge help in all this.
...See More
I don't have a cat, so why am I buying cat food?
Q
Comments (10)
Thanks so much for the help! See .. I thought feeding all of those cats out of one big feeder is very wrong too. Thanks for validating one of my concerns. We have the five dogs and there is no way I'd feed them out of one big dish, they all have their own dishes and a few their own eating areas due to when they were strays it caused food aggression issues with other dogs ( not people ). If left to their own being fed out of a large dish, the food aggression dogs would drive the others out and fights would ensue to regain the bowl .. basically everything that's happening to this cat. So, I do blame the people for not getting involved on her behalf. She's an adult cat, my DH ( who had cats as a child ) thinks she's maybe 6 - 8 years old ?? I think right now I'm going to try to get her back into shape, she's eating for me and she seems very content to hang out down here now. As we sat on the porch last night, she hung out on my DH's lap and soaked up the attention. We live in NC and it's been one of the hardest states hit by unemployment, the papers are filled with people giving away their animals. The rescues and humane socities are also filled .. we went through the whole thing with trying to find Daisy ( the Basset my DHbrought home last year ) a home or into rescue and never could, so we just kept her. I'm also going to call and talk to our vet about a dewormer for her, they'll be able to give me an idea how much it would run and if they need to see her first. They are pretty good about giving us a break when the animal is a stray, they did with Daisy and her whole heart worm treatment. Thanks again everyone, hopefully we can get her looking a little better soon :)
...See More
Any way to get Health Insurance now?
Q
Comments (11)
If she has a minimal income (which albeit has to be significantly minumal for a single person) she should be able to get medicaid. I would tell her though that that is not a pleasant process. My experiance (when I first had my daughter and needed it) was not a pleasant one. The people are mean and well downright awful and their first response is NO. I went in knowing exactly what I qualified for and didn't except no for an answer. I already knew what forms to fill out so when they told me I had to do certain things (which basically just make you life more difficult and are not a requirement) I told them flat out No, I don't have to do that I only need to fill out this this and this. Visit your state resource to find out the income requirements and such in your specific state. They are different for each. Also - I happen to find this as well In the US, there are a few alternatives that you may want to investigate. The first is Medicaid, if you financially qualify. If your income level is over the Medicaid limit, you may still qualify for Medicaid by using a spend down equation (usually the amount of income you receive over and above their income guidelines). To become eligible for Medicaid your allowable medical expenses must be more than your spend down amount. Expenses for medical care that may be considered in this equation include care from hospitals, doctors, clinics, dentists, drugs, medical supplies and equipment, health insurance premiums, transportation to get medical care, personal assistance services, and adult home help services that are related to your medical care. Read more on this here: --> Medicaid Eligibility http://www.rare-cancer.org/health-insurance.html
...See More
anyone know anything about health insurance??
Q
Comments (16)
In Rita May's defense, sometimes the choices we have to make are difficult. It's easy to say that it isn't a good idea to not have health insurance. But the cost can be prohibitive. I don't know if prices are uniform all over the country or not, but I can tell you that here in California private insurance costs are outrageous. And fewer and fewer employers are offering health insurance to employees, or are making them pay a large portion of it. And because DH has had cancer, changing insurances isn't a real option for us (remember pre-existing conditions). Every year when our contract renews, of course the price goes up. Last year we were paying more than $1,100 per month for the two of us to have medical and dental. In June, when our contract came up for renewal, it was going up another $200+. So we ended up moving to a plan with less coverage to bring the cost down. And this is with a high deductible. So every month I pay for the privilege of SAYING that we have health coverage, but we pay full price until our large deductible is met (we're healthy, so deductible is never met). We argue about this subject every month when I write the check. He says we're throwing our money away. I argue that, while I agree that it's not helping us out now, chances are that as we get older we may need to be hospitalized for one thing or another and that is when the insurance will become "worth it". Many people have to choose between having health insurance and having food on the table. It isn't any wonder that there are so many uninsured. Sad, sad, sad.
...See More
lynn_d
13 years ago
I don't know either, Rosemary, but like you I found it to be a great help during an RA flare. But instead the insurance pays $1800 a month for my RA injection and $250 for the anti-inflammatory.
suzieque
13 years ago
Mine does.
matti5
13 years ago
My insurance (Blue Cross/Blue Sheild) covers 15 visits of acupuncture, but only by a medical doctor certified in acupunture. My primary care physician, as well as my gynocologist (both in the same practice)are certified in acupuncture, so my acupunture visits are a covered item. Biofeedback is also a covered expense, but again, only from a medical doctor.

Ask your insurance if it's covered if admistered by a medical doctor. There are more and more doctors adding alternative medicine to their practice.
carol_in_california
13 years ago
I have been seeing an acupuncturist all summer......for asthma and allergies.
I have had excellent results but it is not covered by my insurance.
Because I pay cash for each visit, the Dr. (of Chinese Medicine) gives me a discount. But it is still expensive.
western_pa_luann
13 years ago
Health insurers also do not cover therapeutic deep tissue massage, which was they ONLY thing that got me functional after a severe MVA.
liljunkr
13 years ago
Mine does and it covers therapeutic massage if ordered by the Dr.

LIL
azzalea
13 years ago
Would you believe lithotripsy (using sound waves to blast kidney stones) is considered elective surgery--even though there's no 'surgery' involved, and it's a tried and true procedure that often can eliminate the need for invasive surgery. Because of that classification, our insurance only paid a portion of the bill. So I saved them probably 10's of thousands of $$$ by opting for a procedure that's non-invasive, takes under an hour, is safe and effective--rather than going for actual surgery that would have been more time-consumking, more costly, involved a night or 2 in the hospital, and would have carried more risk.

I know they're trying to get out of paying as much as possible, but doesn't it make sense to encourage people to choose the procedure that costs less? And elective? for a kidney stone that's too large to pass? I don't THINK so!
joyfulguy
13 years ago
They figure that there's a "hole" in the arguemts of those who favour it?

o j

Why don't health insurers cover acupuncture treatment?

Comments (10)

jannie

jel48

Related Discussions

lynn_d

suzieque

matti5

carol_in_california

western_pa_luann

liljunkr

azzalea

joyfulguy

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US