A Door Opens for Insurance Coverage of Non-Opioid Pain Treatments

Thirty-seven state attorneys general recently wrote to American’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), saying that the status quo is unacceptable. We agree. Action Alert!
The letter urges AHIP to encourage healthcare providers to prioritize non-opioid pain management options–such as physical therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic care, and massage—over opioid prescriptions in the treatment of chronic pain.
Opioid addiction is killing people in startling numbers—more people each year than are killed in traffic accidents, and the single largest contributor to deaths among those younger than 50.
ANH agrees that insurers should rethink their policies and cover non-opioid pain treatments – but we would add a number of other treatments to the list, including CBD oil, fish oil (omega-3 fatty acids produce cannabinoids naturally in the body), boswellia, white willow bark and other anti-inflammatories, as well as electrical and magnetic treatments.
This would of course save insurers and patients a lot of money. Opioid treatments can cost patients thousands of dollars a year. An overall economic analysis suggests that prescription opioid use disorders and overdoses cost the US $78 billion in 2013 alone. Natural medicine is of course far cheaper—as long as Big Pharma isn’t allowed to corner the fish oil market, as Amarin is currently trying to do.
Action Alert! Send a message to AHIP, urging their member companies to heed the state attorney generals’ message and begin covering natural approaches to pain control. Please send your message immediately.