The problem with "insurance" and Chiropractic...
So, anyone who gets chiropractic care and also has "health" insurance
has noticed by now that coverage is shrinking. A lot. But is this really
a bad thing? Honestly, I think it's inevitable, and the reason is that they've never really covered true chiropractic in the first place.
What they have covered is basically medicine, performed by a
chiropractor. What's the difference? Well, think about it. What is
insurance, anyway? It's something that you buy in the hopes that you
will never actually have to use it. It's protection against horrible
things. I have life insurance. Do I hope to use it? Hell no. I have car
insurance. Do I hope to "get to" file some claims? Hell no! I have
malpractice insurance. Do I hope to use that? I hope I NEVER do! Even medical or dental... I love my dentist, and I like my MD, but... to be honest, I hope to hardly ever have to see them for treatment. But
what happens when you have "health" insurance that "covers"
chiropractic? Do you want to use it? HELL YES! Why? Because chiropractic
is AWESOME, and because getting adjusted helps you to stay healthy,
happy and energized. If you were "approved" for 50 visits to your
medical doctor per year, would you go? Uh... no. Why not? Because all
they have for you is drugs and surgery. Who would want that every
week..?? But chiropractic? Yes, please. I have been getting adjusted
since I was 19 years old. I'm in great health thanks in part to my
weekly wellness adjustments. So... back to the topic... how did
chiropractic, this awesome life-enhancing thing, get tangled up with
insurance, this scary thing that you only buy because you DON'T actually
want to need it? It's because some short-sighted chiropractors a few
years ago thought that it would be a good idea. They thought that maybe
if they treated chiropractic like medicine -- like something that
"injured" people did only for a short time until they were "better" --
that it would help the profession. Instead, it just confused people,
and now people think that chiropractic is for "back pain" and that
insurance should cover it! Insurance can never cover real chiropractic
-- real wellness care. It just doesn't match what insurance is all
about! It's not a sustainable business practice for them, and it doesn't match what I do in my practice. So why pretend? And that is
why I am not, and will never be, a part of any insurance network. I
didn't dedicate my life to become an advil-with-arms! They're not interested in your HEALTH - only your statistical odds of getting DISEASE. Who's interested in your health? It has to be YOU, and you're the one who has to take care of it. (But we're here to help, too.) :)