Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Massachusetts, one of the most progressive state insurers in the nation when it comes to offering non-drug alternatives, has announced it will provide acupuncture coverage beginning Jan. 1, 2020. Eligible members will be able to access acupuncture services for up to 12 visits per calendar year, and referrals are not required. The co-pay will be the same as an outpatient office visit with a specialist.
"We want our members to have access to a broad range of safe, effective treatments for pain management," said Andrew Dreyfus, president and CEO of BCBS of Massachusetts, in a press release announcing the coverage change. "We know our members and employer customers are increasingly seeking alternative treatments like acupuncture, both for chronic conditions and overall wellness."
Now here's the catch: The 12 visits per calendar year are covered when performed by a network provider, "such as a Licensed Acupuncturist, Doctor of Medicine, or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine." [Italics added].
Acupuncture is included in MD / DO scope of practice in Massachusetts, so this is perhaps more of a state-scope issue, rather than an insurance one. However, it does raise the question of whether covering acupuncture will actually help the AOM profession flourish – in Massachusetts and nationwide – or stunt its growth by blurring the lines between acupuncture provided by an LAc vs. that provided by an MD / DO; particularly as more medical providers look for drug-free tools to combat the opioid crisis.
Editor's Note: Do you care who else can provide acupuncture in your state (as long as you can)? And is "coverage with a catch" better than no coverage at all? We'll explore both topics in AT in 2020.
Chronic pain afflicts over 20% of the adult population. Sadly, most MDs have essentially no education in treating pain, beyond offering a few toxic medications. Then they tend to steer people with pain away from those health practitioners who are trained. This puts the acupuncture community on the front lines for addressing this epidemic.
When the body is going through a stressful event, the sympathetic system is activated. This activation will help the body with a life-threatening situation. If this state is activated for prolonged periods of time, it starts to consume energy. These traumatic events that generate stressors in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) will eventually become internalized.
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One of the things that makes acupuncture so difficult to measure is that the medicine actually does contain some esoteric aspects. There have been numerous studies that demonstrate the neurochemical reasoning behind why acupuncture points stimulate the autonomic nervous system to enact change However, not all the benefits of TCM can easily be measured by randomized, controlled trials. But does that make them fundamentally and definitively untrue?
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