Why don't health insurers cover acupuncture treatment?

15 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

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Comments (10)

jannie
15 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
15 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).
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Gee, I don't know, Doc. Why do YOU think?
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lynn_d
15 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
15 years ago
Mine does.
matti5
15 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
15 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
15 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
15 years ago
Mine does and it covers therapeutic massage if ordered by the Dr.

LIL
azzalea
15 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
15 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

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