Whether you accept it, avoid it or live somewhere in between, insurance coverage has become a defining issue for our profession. Patients increasingly expect to use their benefits, practitioners want to be compensated fairly for their time and expertise, and the system itself remains – at best – fragmented. The encouraging news is that coverage has expanded in meaningful ways. The challenging news is that reimbursement, across the board, remains inadequate.
Stephen Lee, LAc
Stephen Lee has been practicing acupuncture and Chinese medicine for more than 30 years in the U.K., and is the author of the Electroacupuncture Handbook (www.jcm.co.uk/book-shop). He studied at the College of Traditional Acupuncture in Leamington Spa, U.K., in the early '80s and then studied TCM in London. He worked in the Nanjing College of Chinese Medicine, China, in 1987, before completing a two-year course in Chinese herbal medicine at the School of Chinese Medicine in London. He has been teaching workshops on electroacupuncture for musculoskeletal problems in the U.K. and abroad since 2009, and is a member of the British Acupuncture Council and the Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine.