The letter below is a letter that I wrote to my insurance
company as part of both a grievance and a state hearing that I filed. This past
April, I decided to give acupuncture a try to deal with my chronic pain issues.
I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, Scoliosis, Spondylosis, Endometriosis and chronic
tension headaches and migraines. Pain appears in different areas of my body
throughout every single day of my life. I wake up each morning with stiff
joints and muscles that must be stretched and warmed up in order for me to even
be mobile. Sometimes when I have been sitting for a long period of time, I have
to stretch out my muscles and joints just so I can move again. Because this process
is painful and time-consuming, I sometimes will just stay standing if I know
that I will be getting up again soon anyway. My body tends to work best under
the premise that a body in motion tends to stay in motion.
In addition to living with daily pain, I subsist on a
daily diet of pain medication each day as well. Occasionally I will supplement
my usual pain medication with herbal medication. My use of the herbal
medication draws more controversy than my use of opiates or high doses of
ibuprofen, which are more socially acceptable, and are appropriate for use at any time,
unlike the use cannabis. Unlike opiates and ibuprofen however, cannabis is an
effective anti-inflammatory medication with multiple health benefits and fewer
long-term side effects. In addition to these pain management methods, I have
attempted to cut back on sugar and other inflammatory foods, which I have found
to be quite effective as well.
This entry isn’t about cannabis, however. Admittedly,
while I use it occasionally, I am not at all a regular partaker. This entry is
about an effective means of pain management that is undervalued among medical
professionals and insurance companies: acupuncture. My insurance company
approved 24 visits within a 12-month period; however, they only gave me 18
visits before denying additional acupuncture services. Furthermore, my
insurance company has forced me to repeatedly complete paperwork and get
approvals for additional visits after every 5 or 6 visits. While I am waiting
for these approvals, I am not able to receive acupuncture services, which
causes a delay in treatment and regression in my progress. While I am waiting,
I end up back in pain, the progress I have made disappears, I end up taking
more pain medication… it’s a vicious cycle. It’s a vicious cycle that insurance
companies want you to keep repeating. Why? Money, of course!
Insurance companies stand to gain payouts from pharmaceutical
companies for keeping you on their medications. Neither the insurance company
or the pharmaceutical company gains anything when you find effective
alternatives such as cannabis or acupuncture. This is why cannabis is still
stigmatized, still illegal in many states, still not regularly prescribed and
still largely underground. This is also why my insurance company keeps giving
me a hard time about obtaining acupuncture services. Insurance companies and
pharmaceutical companies are directly responsible for the opioid epidemic, an
epidemic which will not see any real relief any time soon no matter what Donald
Trump says or what downright comical campaigns he launches against it. Making
it more difficult to acquire opiates is effective, but a more effective
strategy would be to raise awareness of and advocate alternative pain
management therapies such as acupuncture, diet modification and perhaps herbal
remedies such as cannabis.
Letter:
Saturday, October 21, 2017
To whom it may concern,
This letter is in regards to all recent correspondence
regarding acupuncture services. Since I have begun receiving acupuncture in
April of this year, I have had to get reapproved for services a number of
times, each time having to fill out a one-page form explaining how acupuncture
is helping me. This one page form is rather inadequate for explaining the
benefits of acupuncture, particularly as it applies to me. Additionally, I
believe that perhaps those making the decisions about these approvals are not
familiar with how acupuncture works, otherwise they would not approve only a
few visits at a time, causing a disruption in the flow of services. The purpose
of this letter is to inform you that acupuncture is benefitting me, how it is
benefitting me and how your system of approving only a few visits at a time is
inhibiting progress rather than benefitting me.
I have recently been officially diagnosed with Rheumatoid
Arthritis, a diagnosis I knew existed long before my doctors ever thought to
test for it. Prior to this official diagnosis, I had been diagnosed with simple
arthritis in a variety of locations. I also have been diagnosed as being
flat-footed, which was causing tremendous pain in my right foot and which made
it difficult to walk. Within a few months of beginning acupuncture, the pain in
my right foot disappeared completely and I am able to walk painlessly again.
The pain in my lower back, for which I had begun to be treated in the
beginning, is also mostly gone, though it reoccurs from time to time. As for my
RA, it pops up in different places all the time. I experience pain in my neck,
back, shoulders, left hip, left leg, hands and feet daily. Some days only a few
of these things hurt. Some days all of these things hurt. My pain levels in
each of these areas are dependent upon a variety of factors including how I
slept, diet, climate, activity and when my last acupuncture appointment was.
This brings me to your system of approval.
When I am able to receive acupuncture services weekly, I
experience considerably less pain overall, am able to fix certain ailments such
as pinched nerves in my neck (which occur frequently) immediately, experience
improvement in my overall condition (such as when the pain in my right foot
went away altogether), and use less pain medication. The current system of
treatment from doctors and from insurance is to keep me using pain medication,
which is fine, but I do not wish to take any more pain medication than is absolutely
necessary if there is a healthier alternative. Acupuncture is a healthier
alternative. It is working. What is not working is having large gaps between
acupuncture services because I can only get a few services approved at a time.
I am respectfully requesting that you reconsider your
decision regarding the approval of my acupuncture services. I wish to continue
receiving acupuncture services because I have seen where it has been incredibly
beneficial. I am also requesting that more services be approved with each
recertification period.
No comments:
Post a Comment