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Thursday, March 27, 2003Regence BlueShield says its cost for alternative health services totaled $44.5 million in 2002. Most worrisome is the annual rate of increase in these costs, said Regence spokeswoman Jodi Coffee. Increases ranged from 16 percent to 50 percent during the past few years. "We expect this trend to continue," she said. In 1999, Regence paid out nearly $20 million for alternative services. In 2000 the cost was about $30 million, in 2001 roughly $35 million, and last year $44.5 million. That’s the thing about a lot of alternative therapies - things like massage therapy, chiropractic manipulation, and acupuncture - they don’t aim to cure, they only aim to relieve symptoms. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it gets pretty expensive to pay for someone’s weekly or monthly chirorpractic manipulation or massage. One thing that insurance companies do around here is to limit the number of chiropractic visits they’ll pay for in a year, just as they limit the number of physical therapy visits. But, what I found most astonishing was this observation: "In 2003, we expect to pay out about $2 million more to chiropractors and massage therapists than we expect to pay out to pediatricians," Coffee said. Sounds like it’s time they starting setting some limits. posted by Sydney on 3/27/2003 07:40:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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