If you aren't already familiar with TRICARE, here's the scoop: It's the government-managed health care insurance program for U.S. uniformed service members, retirees and their families worldwide, currently providing coverage for 9.4 million – yes, you read that correctly – eligible beneficiaries.
Here's another scoop, and it's a huge one for the AOM profession: TRICARE appears poised to include acupuncture services in its coverage, according to Military.com, which cites "a document distributed to military support organizations this week."
According to Military.com, the document stipulates that the new policy providing acupuncture coverage will be proposed within the next few months, "issued in an official regulation change notice no later than early next year."
Currently, acupuncture is not covered by TRICARE; neither is chiropractic, which is also mentioned in the document as a service that will be covered per the proposed policy change.*
It is unclear which specific acupuncture (and chiropractic) services will be covered if and when the policy change takes effect, although according to Military.com, the document says covered services "must be proven safe and effective."
Acupuncture Today Columnist Bill Reddy is currently researching this exciting development and will provide further details in an upcoming issue. Stay tuned.
*While TRICARE does not cover acupuncture or chiropractic (yet), both services are available at a limited number of Veterans Administration and Department of Defense facilities. TRICARE is particularly important because if the Military Health System, overseen by the DoD, or the VA cannot accommodate the demand for care, TRICARE provides coverage at civilian hospitals and health care facilities.
A student stands over a patient, needle poised. They have a “perfect” prescription: a textbook combination of points harvested from a lecture slide on chronic lower back pain. But as the needle meets the skin, the student hesitates - the symptom of a quiet habit that has taken hold of our profession. We routinely say we “prescribe” points. It sounds efficient. It echoes the authority of biomedical culture and fits neatly into the insurance field. But vocabulary is never neutral; repeated long enough, it dictates behavior.
Acupuncture can be highly effective in cases of nasal congestion so common in allergy presentations; so much so that I often treat such issues using acupuncture protocols alone. In cases of seasonal allergies with highly predictable causes such as obvious elevations of environmental allergens, I use a skeleton acupuncture prescription that can easily be fleshed out to target potential underlying patterns and effectively customized to the patient.
The field of acupuncture in the U.S. continues to grow in visibility, patient demand and clinical effectiveness. Yet behind the curtain, many acupuncturists are quietly struggling to keep their doors open. While the profession is rooted in centuries of healing tradition, modern economic pressures – particularly those driven by insurance limitations, low reimbursement rates and job-market saturation – are making it increasingly difficult for licensed acupuncturists to thrive.
