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Current Section: Insurance & Finances
Can I Afford Chiropractic?
Do you have insurance?
We are in network for most insurance plans. If you have a chiropractic Insurance benefit, we should be able to work with it. When you set your appointment, let the staff member know about your insurance and ask if they can verify it for you. This will allow us to be prepared with a detail about how your insurance works.
No Insurance?
Welcome to our office! We have many patients without insurance. We understand the need for affordable care.
High Deductible?
Smart! We’ll work with you just like we do with cash patients.
Were you involved in an accident?
Most patients involved in accidents are covered by insurance or have an attorney who will work with us to cover the cost of your care. As a result most accident patients do not have to pay for the care themselves. Patients at fault in an accident are often covered by their own health insurance or by their own automobile insurance.
Is this a work related injury?
We are not experts at dealing with Workers Compensation. We don’t like the paperwork or stress associated with managing these types of claims. If you have pre-authorization and another physician is considered the Primary Treating Physician, we will consider accepting you as a patient. If you are an existing patient and you are injured at work, you will need to discuss your care with our staff.
Which is Better A Big Copay or Big Deductible?
The answer is different for everyone. You must consider both your overall health and your ability to pay for the whole deductible or the copay for each visit. Many people in the Antelope valley are covered by the two major carriers: Blue Cross and Kaiser.
Most Kaiser patients have a low deductible. Many Blue Cross patients have a high deductible, sometimes as high as $5,00.00 or $10,000.00. In general the insurance costs have been rising (as the insurance companies continue to make obscene profits). To discourage visiting the doctor, and logically help lower costs, they increase the deductibles and copays. With insurances that are covered by unions (like the Antelope Valley High School District, Sherrif department, Prison guards, Cal-Trans) the trend has been to lower deductibles but gradually increasing copays.
Small business owners and employees that work for progressive companies like Lockheed or Northrop, we tend to see higher deductibles supported by a HSA or FSA. An FSA allows you to set aside part of your paycheck (pretax) for health expenses. If your deductible is high you may qualify for a health savings account (HSA) and your employer may also contribute funds. Note: You generally cannot have both an HSA and an FSA.
In general, if you go to the doctor a lot, are older or have a chronic condition you are better off in a lower deductible plan. If on the other hand you avoid the doctor and have the resources to cover the cost of the deductible, then a high deductible may make sense, in that the lower cost may save you more money.
Tagged chiropractor, copay, deductible, Insurance
Does Medicare Cover Chiropractic?
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YES – If you are a medicare beneficiary, and you want chiropractic care, you are in good luck. Medicare covers chiropractic in 2 different ways. First directly. It is covered by medicare. If you have a secondary insurance (such as AARP, Blue Cross, Aetna, United HealthCare, Cigna, Blue Shield, etc.), the secondary is supposed to cover your copay (unless your copay is higher than than the secondary – I know it is confusing sometimes). Many senior citizens use their medicare to help with their aches and pains, arthritis, back pain and headaches. If you have been in a car accident, you can usually bill the automobile insurance instead (either yours or the other drivers).
Medicare does pay for medically necessary Chiropractic Adjustments. They don’t cover other services provided by a chiropractor though. The Medicare deductible for 2011 is $162 (this is the amount you have to pay before Medicare will pay – sometimes this is covered by your secondary insurance). After your deductible is met, Medicare pays 80% for your Chiropractic Adjustment and you are responsible for 20%. This amount is called your copay. Sometimes, your copay is covered by your secondary insurance. To read the complete 2011 official US Government Medicare handbook click here
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California ranks near bottom in kids’ health care
California ranks 44th of all the states in a recent study about children’s health care.
The study found California especially inadequate in delivering affordable health care to children. But the real story is that California has more uninsured kids. And the truth is most kids don’t need health insurance to be healthy. In fact a recent review of revealed no statistic about the health levels of California’s children. The only type of research included barometers like poverty line, education and teen birth rate.
The facts are clear though: We do have too many overweight kids. Our kids don’t get enough exercise. Our kids eat too much toxic and unhealthy food. Our kids are exposed to too many drugs and medications. Kids are developing degeneration of their cervical spine at earlier ages.
Chiropractic has helped thousands of Antelope Valley kids – from babies to teenagers.
INS Coverage
Insurances we work with:
Our Chiropractors work with most insurance companies. We are in network or approved providers for most insurances. We also have contracts with many HMO’s and IPA’s. We have developed relationships with most Medical Provider Networks (MPN). For patients without insurance we have affordable care programs. The following list of insurances is not a guarantee of in network contracting, rather it is a list of insurances that we have worked with in the past.
Find Your Insurance Carrier: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
