Should Alternative Medicine Be Covered By Health Insurance, Research Paper Example

Abstract

This work in writing examines alternative medicine and whether it should be covered by health insurance. Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is treatment with, just as it sounds, alternative methods that are not utilized by mainstream health care providers. It is the opinion of this writer that Complementary and Alternative (CAM) treatment should be covered by the individual’s health insurance.

Introduction

This work in writing examines alternative medicine and whether it should be covered by health insurance. Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is treatment with, just as it sounds, alternative methods that are not utilized by mainstream health care providers. It is the opinion of this writer that Complementary and Alternative (CAM) treatment should be covered by the individual’s health insurance.

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine reports that the 2007 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) reports that adults in the U.S. spent “an estimated $33.9 billion out-of-pocket on CAM treatments. CAM treatments and services are usually paid for by individuals ‘out-of-pocket’ since most health insurance coverage policies do not pay all, if any, of CAM therapies. (National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2010) Private health insurance plans are stated to potentially offer “coverage of certain CAM therapies, such as chiropractic acupuncture and massage. Overall, however, coverage of CAM therapies is relatively limited — compared with coverage of conventional therapies. One factor is a lack of scientific evidence regarding the cost-effectiveness of CAM therapies.” (2010) It is expected that as the interest of consumers increase in these therapies that more insurance companies and managed care organizations “may consider offering coverage of CAM therapies shown to be safe and effective.” (National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2010)

The work of Burton Goldberg states that insurance pays more than $100 billion each year for conventional medical treatments that are “ineffectual or even harmful.” (2010) Goldberg states that alternative medicine generally is less expensive than conventional treatments. If  one gets cancer Goldberg states that the individual’s medical insurance or Medicare “will pay for tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars of surgery, radiation and/or chemotherapy – whatever is the standard of practice for your particular kind of cancer. This in spite of the fact that after spending more than $2 billion annually for research over the last quarter century, the medical literature reveals that the incidence and mortality for most kinds of cancer remains unchanged – or continues to rise. However, if you want to get treated at an alternative clinic where the success rate is upwards of ten times higher than conventional treatments – with the subsequent quality of life also immeasurably better – the cost could run $5,000 per week for a one or two-month in-patient program.” (Goldberg, 2010) Even so, this is less expensive than the cost of conventional treatment and hospitalization costs are from $5,000.00 per day and upward. Many alternative medical treatments have to be procured outside of the United States since many effective therapies are not allowed to be practiced in the United States. (Goldberg, 2010, paraphrased) Goldberg states the example of the individual with heart disease and who has a blocked artery and relates that bypass operations costs between “$50,000 and $100,000.” (Goldberg, 2010) If one wants to “prevent or coronary heart disease by going to an alternative physician. He or she would likely prescribe lifestyle changes, supplements and chelation therapy. A full examination, follow-ups, all lab work and a year’s complete treatment could cost between $5,000 and $7,500.” (Goldberg, 2010) This cost is a mere fraction of the cost of conventional treatment however, the individual generally has to pay for these costs. Ironically, the federal government’s General Accounting Office reports that less than 10% of bypass operations are actually necessary and moreover “studies in mainstream medical literature show no significant difference in the death rates between heart attack victims who receive bypass surgery and those who do not. Still, approximately $4 billion dollars is spent on bypass surgery every year.” (Goldberg, 2010) Why then is alternative medicine not covered by insurance? Goldberg reports that this is “where the difficulty lies. The people to whom these billions of dollars are being paid do not want a change in the status quo. Those industries and occupations that have the most to lose include insurance carriers. Insurance companies make their money as a percentage of their gross revenues.” (Goldberg, 2010) Goldberg states that medical doctors are also threatened by alternative medical insurance coverage” and as well, “There are, unfortunately, a significant portion who don’t want to go back to school to learn an entirely new medical paradigm, and others who don’t want to face the fact that in their ignorance or arrogance they have let many of their patients suffer or die unnecessarily. “ (2010) Goldberg additionally reports that the public presently makes more alternative health visits than to conventional primary care doctors and is spending more out of their pocket for alternative services than they spend for hospitalization services. According to Goldberg, the biggest losers would be the pharmaceutical companies as “Expensive patented drugs that only suppress symptoms and have toxic side effects would only be used in the rarest circumstances in alternative medicine. If there was a major shift in this country from sick-care to real healthcare, the drug giants would have to do what the tobacco companies have done to survive: Once it became common knowledge that their main product was poison, they had to diversify into entirely different businesses.” (2010) Goldberg reports that there is presently “…formidable opposition, then, to getting alternative medical therapies covered by insurance – the pharmaceutical and insurance industries are among the very top political contributors on the national and state levels, with physicians’ trade organizations major players, also. The monetary stakes are huge: $37 billion dollars are spent annually on direct medical costs for cancer treatment and an equivalent amount is spent treating heart disease. Conventional medicine in this country is an industry with annual revenues of hundreds of billions of dollars.” (Goldberg, 2010)

Goldberg (2010) states the following statistics in his report:

• 80% of medical students want training in complementary and alternative therapies (“CAM”)
• 70% of family physicians want training in CAM
• 69% of Americans use nonconventional medical therapies
• 67% of HMO’s offer at least one form of CAM care
• 64% of U.S. medical school offer courses in CAM
• 60% of physicians have referred patients to CAM practitioners
• 56% of Americans surveyed believe their health plans should cover alternative therapies
• 29 health insurers and HMO’s already cover some CAM therapies (Goldberg, 2010)

Alternative therapies are actually covered in one state as in 1993, Washington passed a state law that requires insurance policies to make provision for coverage for treatments and services by “every category of licensed health care providers.” (Goldberg, 2010) Washington is reported to presently license “…naturopathic doctors, acupuncturists, chiropractors, certified dietitians and nutritionists, massage therapists and midwives. A coalition of insurance providers immediately initiated a legal challenge to the legislation, but the law was upheld in a ruling earlier this year by the Washington Supreme Court.” (Goldberg, 2010)

A study reported by Frank, Ratanawongsa, and Carrera (2010) relates that when surveyed that one-half of medical students in the United States believe that CAM “…can often be as effective as traditional medicine. Our findings are comparable to surveys of practicing physicians in the U.S., where 44-66% of providers had favorable opinions toward CAM. Moreover, like a recent study at one medical school, the proportion of students with this positive attitude toward CAM remained consistent throughout three stages of allopathic medical training.” As well the study is reported to amplify results “from smaller studies of associations between CAM attitudes and students’ personal characteristics. In multiple smaller studies of practicing physicians and students, women have had more positive attitudes toward CAM, including personal use and referral of patients to CAM providers.” (Frank, Ratanawongsa, and Carrera, 2010) A study reported by Herman et al (2008) relates a study that sought to determine the “…cost-effectiveness of naturopathic care, exercise, and dietary advice compared to standardized physiotherapy education and back care booklet for low back pain in a sample of warehouse workers.” The conclusions of the study state that the economic evaluation “…alongside a pragmatic randomized control trial shows naturopathic care to be more cost-effective than a standardized physiotherapy education regimen in the treatment of chronic low back pain from the societal, employer, and participant perspectives.”

This work has examined the issue of insurance coverage for Complementary and Alternative Therapies (CAM) and has found that these therapies are more cost-effective and in many cases more effective treatments that are standardized health care services and treatments. For these reasons it is the conclusion of this writer that Complementary and Alternative Therapies (CAM) should be covered by health insurance policies and in fact, that failure of insurance companies to do so results in negligence to consumers.

References

Frank, Erica, Ratanawongsa, Neda, and Carrera, Jennifer (2010) American Medical Students’ Beliefs in the Effectiveness of Alternative Medicine. International Journal of Collaborative Research on Internal Medicine & Public Health, 2010, Vol. 2 No. 9. Retrieved from: http://www.iomcworld.com/ijcrimph/ijcrimph-v02-n09-01-f.htm

Goldberg, Burton (2010) Getting Alternative Medicine Covered by Medical Insurance. Retrieved from: http://www.burtongoldberg.com/alternative-medicine-coverage.html\

Herman, Patricia, et al (2008) Cost-Effectiveness of Naturopathic Care for Chronic Low Back Pain. Alternative Therapies. Mar/Apr 2008. Vol. 14. No. 2. Retrieved from: http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:hznX9CBnCL4J:www.alternative-therapies.com/at/web_pdfs/0308_herman.pdf+effectiveness+of+alternative+medicine+CAM&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShRn3ZmKEzNhG7pBSQed4ypcljPdw7QpKb7ltGL2McLBoJ3aFxsXcH44vw_pJjPqa2XcjKUfgJdksVdh1kGk6W2UKfVZwslvjnqR3sYCfPJCASjBM6SHVuZsmn9A8pWAWph12Qv&sig=AHIEtbReawN4EDCUIZA5tT0FCQk9eeyeag&pli=1

Paying for CAM (2010) National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Retrieved from: http://nccam.nih.gov/health/financial/