Acupuncture Coverage, Usage, & Payment Under New Complimentary Therapy Updated Regulation & Endorsement (A.C.U.P.U.N.C.T.U.R.E.)

[Joshua_Shain]

Acupuncture Coverage, Usage, & Payment Under New Complimentary Therapy Updated Regulation & Endorsement (A.C.U.P.U.N.C.T.U.R.E.)

I propose that the following 4 policy proposals, about acupuncture and holistic medical coverage by Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance as well as promoting acupuncture and complimentary medical system referrals as a best practice, get merged:

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Written by @Joshua_Shain

Acupuncture as Best Practice for Ambulatory Care

Doctors routinely use drastic measure like surgeries and medications for what acupuncturists can easily treat. All medications have side effects, and many surgeries do not have the anticipated outcome. Medical approaches to pain turn prescriptions into subscriptions with no end date. Both of these disruptive approaches lead to medical and pharmaceutical cascades such as polypharmacy and additional procedures or operations. Doctors must begin to refer patients with non-emergency problems to Lice…

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Written by @Bliss

Insurance for holistic approaches to medicine

Insurance companies should cover holistic approaches instead of forcing people to pay out of pocket for a different view. There has been many proven holistic medical care that has been effective over medications that continue to make us sick! Modern doctors should perform all the same blood test if requested as the holistic doctors and offer people different methods instead of pushing pills. Also, ending vaccine mandates for schools, jobs, and military, military members should not be forced to…

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Written by @ChineseMedicineDoc

Medicare Acupuncture Coverage

Continuing the discussion from Insurance for holistic approaches to medicine: Insurers often use Medicare Guidelines for their policies. Medicare does not credential acupuncturists and therefore will not pay them. This is the crux of our federal problem.

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Written by @Azoth_2018

National mandate for insurance companies to cover Acupuncture

Insurances not covering acupuncture or those that say they do but end up not paying needs to stop. Insurances have no issue with paying for expensive surgeries vs. natural holistic approaches like acupuncture, which is a cheaper alternative to surgeries in most cases.

Explanation & Justification

 These 4 policy suggestions basically cover a lot of the same ground and should be consolidated for a stronger and unified proposal.
  The USA spends the most money in the world absolutely and per capita yet we the worst outcomes. We must reconcile this poor performance and wasteful expenditure with the reality that body work therapies, manipulations and other physical interactions with the human beings have therapeutic effects equal to and usually better and more long lasting than pharmaceutical or surgical approaches. 
 Long ago Dr Benjamin Rush stated "Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship to restrict the art of healing to one class of Men and deny equal privileges to others; the Constitution of the Republic should make a Special privilege for medical freedoms as well as religious freedom." That time has not only come but it has been her for about 110 years, ever since the 1910 Flexner report. Other medical modalities have just as much validity but are not taken seriously or reimbursed by insurances or government payers. 
 Recently the tide has turned, the US military and VA have both begun to utilize Acupuncture, Chiropractic and other modalities to care for troops and veterans. Furthermore, the state of Connecticut launched a hugely successful program wherein Medicaid ('Husky' in CT) covers acupuncture. First it was just at Federally Qualified Healthcare Centers but since they will also cover (though at a lower reimbursement) acupuncture at private practices. This brave and innovative approach has made acupuncture therapy accessible to a huge part of the population that due to income restrictions had no opportunity to benefit from what has become an expensive elective intervention. If Connecticut can do it than so can all 50 states of the USA. 
 We are long overdue to catch up to the rest of the world in incorporating a diverse set of view points and practices into the everyday medical interventions. A set of policies that forces medical doctors to refer to acupuncture and other complimentary approaches as a first line of treatment would not only improve the overall health of the nation but would also be an economic boon. We would be putting encouraging a whole new generation of healers to get trained and get paid to help their communities, as well as get workers off of disability and back to work. This common sense policy should be implemented as soon as possible.