Non-Narcotic Methods Of Pain Management Often Not Covered By Insurers

reports that as the Obama Administration and state health officials are urging non-narcotic methods of treating pain, those methods often meet resistance from patients, physicians, and insurers. While insurers in the 1990’s tended to cover alternative treatments – such as chiropractic and osteopathic manipulation, meditation, massage, yoga, acupuncture and cognitive behavioral therapy – the methods “soon fell out of favor because the programs varied in quality and there was little data to show their long-term value.” The Times also notes that from a patient’s perspective, “Taking a pill is simply faster and easier than regularly leaving work for physical therapy.” http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/23/business/new-ways-to-treat-pain-without-opioids-meet-resistance.html?_r=0