Insurance companies behind the curve on alternative medicine
For years, practitioners of alternative medicine – such as myself – and their patients have pushed to help it gain greater acceptance in the mainstream medical community. Who could be against safer cures and more thoughtful diagnoses and treatment plans that treat the whole patient?
Apparently, the insurance companies.
The recent "Healthcare Providers' Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine" survey drew nearly 300 responses from docs around the nation. While the survey found some optimism about the growth of alternative medicine use in mainstream medicine, there was pessimism about that translating into more acceptance by the insurance field. Sixty-two percent of respondents felt it was either "not too likely" or "probably unlikely" that insurance coverage for alternative treatments would substantially increase in the foreseeable future.
The health practitioners surveyed were educated about alternative medicine in different ways, whether it was through formal medical training, seminars on holistic medicine, self-teaching or talking about it with colleagues.
While the docs themselves had sought to learn more about alternative medicine, the insurance companies aren't so interested. Insurance companies are built around cost control, and anything new scares them. Hopefully, with time, they'll come to understand that supporting safe, natural alternative treatments may save them billions in drug costs.
But, in my experience, they're not there yet. And that's a shame for everyone.
