Acupuncture Has Been Named Essential Health Benefit in Multple States

Acupuncture Added As Essential Health Benefit in California

      Section 3502 of the PPACA, aka “Obamacare”, states that primary health care practitioners must “provide coordination of the appropriate use of complementary and alternative (CAM) services to those who request such services.”

On Sept. 30, 2012 Gov. Jerry Brown signed measures SB 951 and AB 1453, which included acupuncture to be covered under the federal health reform also known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that was signed into law on March 23, 2010.

The two measures included acupuncture as an essential health benefit that the state can begin to offer through federally subsidized plans for individuals and families as well as unsubsidized plans. According to the plan, patients would pay a $30 co-pay for acupuncture services to treat “nausea and chronic pain.”

Essential health benefits were defined in the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). It is up to individual states to determine the precise details of the essential health benefits that are broadly outlined in the federal law. This new California law defines and enacts provisions for California essential health benefits and includes acupuncture for the treatment of pain and nausea. Other services defined as essential health benefits include ambulatory patient services, hospitalization, maternity care, newborn care, vision screening and tobacco cessation.

This new law and its acupuncture provisions apply to all individual health insurance policies and small group policies including all HMOs and PPOs. Small group policies are all policies written for companies with 50 or less employees. In 2016, the definition of small group policies changes and the new California law will apply to all companies with 100 or less employees.

The new California law does not apply to self-insured plans, grandfathered plans and large employers. Grandfathered plans are those plans officially designated as a grandfathered plan as of March 2010. Any grandfathered plan that has either a change in benefits or cost structure will no longer be considered a grandfathered plan and will no longer be exempt from the new law’s provisions. As a result, the impact of grandfathered plans is expected to be minimal.

The definition of essential health benefits as stated in this new California law was formulated using the Kaiser Permanente Small Group Agreement Plan 1637 Plan 3-N as a basis for determining standard medical provisions for health insurance policies originating in California. Medical treatment limitations can be no greater than those imposed in the Kaiser plan. As a result, no cap on the maximum number of acupuncture office visits per year may be imposed although a physician’s referral may be required by some health insurance plans.

Commencing January 1, 2014, existing law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), requires a health insurance issuer that offers coverage in the small group or individual market to ensure that such coverage includes the essential health benefits package, as defined. PPACA requires each state to, by January 1, 2014, establish an American Health Benefit Exchange that facilitates the purchase of qualified health plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers. PPACA defines a qualified health plan as a plan that, among other requirements, provides an essential health benefits package. Existing state law creates the California Health Benefit Exchange (the Exchange) to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers by January 1, 2014.

Call Acupuncture for America and Beyond's clinic at (562) 888-3399. We are happy to check your benefits and work with billing insurance.  So schedule an appointment now to see how we can help you.

Tylenol, Ibuprofen or Acupuncture ?

Pain Management: Tylenol, Ibuprofen or Acupuncture ?

     Pain is how your body shouts. How it reminds

you to lift from your knees, not your back. How it tells you to get up from your desk job and stretch. Of course, you don't want that shout to echo for hours. 

         Acupuncture works with your body to silence pain messages after they've made their point. It targets pain signals without interfering with the way your body protects your liver, like Tylenol probably would or stomach lining, like Aspirin or even Ibuprofen can. So you can get back on your feet. And feel better. Without all the shouting and any annoying interference.

Call Acupuncture for America and Beyond's office at (562) 888-3399 to schedule an appointment to see how we can help you.

Menopause

Acupuncture for Menopause

Menopause  describes that time in a woman’s life when her body must give up menstruation and free that energy for more spiritual purposes.  Since it may come with a fair amount of physical discomfort in the form of hot flashes, night sweats and irritability it is often viewed as a medical condition and treated with hormone replacement therapy.  There are many reasons why this natural transition may not be as smooth and comfortable as we would like but there is great news for all women who do experience this discomfort.   Acupuncture can eliminate the hot flashes.  Acupuncture will stop the night sweats.  Acupuncture will greatly reduce the irritability.

Acupuncture will help you to find and sustain the appropriate hormonal balance which nourishes both mind and body.  The physical discomforts of night sweats, mood swings, and hot flashes will be soothed away by using a natural method to treat a natural imbalance.


Call Acupuncture for America and Beyond's clinic at (562) 888-3399 to schedule an appointment to see how we can help you.

Shingles

Acupuncture for Shingles

Shingles can be a very painful condition which may arise when the varicella-zoster virus becomes active.  Shingles is the same virus which causes chicken-pox.  Varicella-zoster virus, or VZV, is the known pathogenic agent for two diseases: chickenpox (varicella), and shingles (herpes zoster).  This VZV virus does not have to be reintroduced into the body in order to cause shingles.  It is common for it to lie dormant in the spinal nerves for years only to reemerge when the immune system is suppressed. These conditions include the presence of other viruses or pathogens, stress, lack of sleep, improper diet and a whole list of situations known to compromise the immune system.   Acupuncture is an established and extremely effective method for treating shingles.

One of the more problematic complications that can arise from a case of shingles is post herpetic neuralgia, or PHN, a complication in which the pain surrounding the rash persists for months or even years after the rashes have healed.  Managing shingles symptoms (and PHN should it arise) is an area of difficulty for conventional allopathic medicine  because the virus is directed at nerve sensors that are just under the skin and are often unresponsive to pain medication.

Acupuncture treatment for shingles will attack the root source of the problem and provide lasting pain relief.    Acupuncture is already well known for its analgesic ability.  What is not as well known is its capacity to strengthen the immune system so that the body can deal with the shingles and many other pathogens at the same time.  Acupuncture may be said to treat shingles at its’ root cause…an immune system not quite up to the task of clearing the active virus.


Call Acupuncture for America and Beyond's clinic at (562) 888-3399 to schedule an appointment to see how we can help you.

Sports Injuries

Acupuncture for Sports Injuries

I would like to discuss one of my uncle's favorite games, golf. Golf is not supposed to be a contact sport, nor is it one in which extreme physical exertion is the key to success.  For this reason one might suppose that golf injuries were almost non-existent.  This, however, is far from the case.  Golf injuries do occur and can be particularly baffling.

Within Traditional Chinese Medicine there is the concept of a turning meridian, an energetic pathway which services the torso as it rotates to facilitate the golf swing.  This channel goes from the back through the hip and on to the abdomen.  If in the course of play, a wrong or repetitive movement strains the torso, it may well present as a back or hip problem.  This condition is slow to respond to conventional treatment such as aspirin, heat, or ice but responds dramatically to the appropriate acupuncture technique utilizing the turning meridian.

One or two treatments might have you comfortably back on the golf links feeling great so check it out.


Call Acupuncture for America and Beyond's office at (562) 888-3399 to schedule an appointment to see how we can help you.

Migraine Headaches

Acupuncture for Migraine Headaches

Migraine headaches vary widely by symptoms and severity.  Migraine headaches usually are described as an intense, throbbing or pounding pain that involves one temple. (Sometimes the pain is located in the forehead, around the eye, or at the back of the head).

Often they affect one side more than the other.  Many come with pulsating and nausea.  There may be sensitivity to light, sound and smells.  Some feel it’s helpful to categorize migraines as Basilar, Abdominal, Hormonal, Ophthalmologic, etc.  It is estimated that over 30 million people suffer from these headaches-- many on a regular basis.  Acupuncture is an extremely effective, holistic way to treat migraines.  Acupuncture can often decrease pain on the spot while the frequency and severity of these headaches are reduced over time.   In those cases where the migraine is paired with other problems both may usually be treated at the same time.

One of my patients could always feel the migraine coming, since it was precipitated by pain over the left eye and tightness in the left neck and shoulder.  Acupuncture released the neck and shoulders and stopped the migraine cold.  Another acupuncture patient responded to barometric pressure to the extent that she could identify the imminent arrival of a weather front.  Acupuncture improved her condition greatly.  She could still sense the arrival of a weather front, but the acupuncture eliminated the migraines.

For these reasons, I recommend acupuncture for migraine headaches because acupuncture is one of the safest and most effective ways to get rid of migraines and restore health.


 
Call Acupuncture for America and Beyond's clinic at (562) 888-3399 to schedule an appointment to see how we can help you.