Health Insurance for Holistic Med

Posted by Victoria Anisman-Reiner Jul 25, 2007

Some health care policies provide coverage for naturopathic medicine or other kinds of alternative health care services - yet many do not.

An interesting article by Lisa Nichols, suite's feature writer for Insurance, addresses this issue (check out her recent article, Alternative Medicine & Insurance).

At present, to the best of my knowledge, the only kinds of holistic treatments covered by any insurance policies are those that require a university education comparable in length and training to a medical degree (acupuncture, naturopathic doctors) and massage therapy.

Massage therapists have spent years working for the recognition they now receive. How long will it take before schools of aromatherapy, reiki, energy medicine, energy psychology, homeopathy, and other natural approaches become recognized by the insurance industry, too? Unfortunately, it may be a long time coming.

Why? It's a simple matter for anyone to set him- or herself up as an expert and offer healing services. There are thousands of shamans, energy workers, and health care practitioners making a living without the kind of educational degrees an insurance company will accept.

Some of them are undoubtedly very experienced and talented healers who are doing good work. Others are not. Without that recognized degree, the insurance companies can't tell the difference.

...Which is not to say that every doctor or naturopath is doing great work! But line has to be drawn somewhere in telling the difference between real medicine and a sham, and it's been drawn on the side of university education and medical recognition... the same line that many draw in constructing their personal beliefs.

Please share your thoughts in my discussions.