Does Health Insurance Cover Massage & Therapies? How to Claim?

People buy best health insurance according to their needs every year to save the large expenses in case of poor health. Some insurance companies not only just covers chronic diseases but also encapsulates massages and therapies. However, it is not the case with every basic health insurance. It is better for every person to get extra cover facilities under the insurance facility he opts for. Many people ask the question, “does health insurance cover massage & therapies?” Or do we need to buy extra insurance for medical massage therapy? Well, this completely depends on the insurance company’s policy and hence vary from one company to other.

One should read the guidelines as well as terms and conditions carefully before taking any health insurance cover from any company. Some companies impose restrictions while covering health insurance massage and therapies. On the other hand, many companies simply deny the facility of massage and other essential health therapies. But in the second case, it is still possible to get a claim for massage or therapies on your health insurance coverage.

massage therapy receipt for insurance

How to Claim Massage and Therapies?

Even if an insurance company does not cover various important therapies and useful treatments, one can still claim it using some genuine ways. You don’t need to take any legal step rather simply express your health condition honestly. Here are the ways to claim massages and therapies:

  • Get Prescription from an authorized Doctor – Well, health insurance companies do not advertise about the coverage of health-related therapies and massages openly. However, if a person proves to the company about the importance of a given therapy for his health, then he can avail of the benefits of such therapies. All one needs to do is to get a prescription from his doctor. But the thing to take note of it is that the clinic from where you are undergoing treatment should be cover under health insurance policy. Also, one needs to submit the receipts of standard diagnostic and treatment codes to the company. Some of the CAM treatments that a person can go for are acupuncture, acupressure, stress relieve therapy, homeopathy, chiropractic care, to name a few.

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  • Money Saving Assurance – If you have bought a basic health insurance and want to claim the money for your message or therapy sessions, there is a way to do so. All you need to do is to convince insurers to give you claim as it is much less than the cost of late treatment. Suppose, you are suffering from a back-problem and enroll yourself for a therapy. Then you can convince insurers that now the treatment costs only a fraction of the treatment in the serious condition. This way, the insurance company may give you claim as it doesn’t want to spoil its relations with you. Also, it would be beneficial for it to avoid a huge cost of a claim because of the late treatment. In addition to this, it would save you from buying extra insurance to cover useful therapies you require on a timely basis.
  • Try Appealing the Decision – After trying the above two methods, if an insurance company does not agree to give you claim for medical massage therapy then you should try appealing the decision. You can get a written note from your CAM practitioner to narrate the exact situation of the patient. For example, if you have a back pain and difficult to get involve yourself in your basic chores then you can convince the insurer by citing the positive effect of treatment on your health. The written note from the physician has a major role to play in claiming the amount from the insurance company. It is beneficial if you get your therapy done from the reputed and experienced doctor.

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How to Claim and Prevention to take During Process

While applying for a claim in the case of any extra insurance cover facilities such as massage or therapies, one should take some precautions. Apart from buying the best health insurance, one needs to take a few precautions while claiming for medical massage therapy from the insurance company are as follows:

  • Take Receipt in Medical Codes – It is not just important to take a massage therapy receipt for insurance from a certified practitioner but also the receipt should be written in medical codes such as ICD and CPT. One must ensure the diagnosis and the treatment should be written in ICD and CPT language respectively. This would make the communication between the physician and the insurer a lot easier.
  • Outline the Treatment Plan – It is the responsibility of a patient to ensure that the money sought in the claim should be according to the outlined treatment plan before starting the treatment. This would help a lot in taking the money from the insurance company.
  • Choose Experienced Practitioner – It would be a better choice if one choose an experienced physician. Ensure before getting a therapy that your practitioner has a good experience in submitting claims for alternative therapies.

Hence, we discussed above the ways to claim medical massage therapy from any insurance company. Also, we threw some light on some of the precautions that every person should take while doing so. So, we hope you got the answer to the question, “does health insurance cover massage & therapies?”