Everyone knows that when you go to the doctor you’ll have a bill. Whether that’s covered by the insurance company or your own purse strings, you’re going to owe something that someone, somewhere, will have to pay.
The same is true for chiropractic care.
The good news is that in Atlanta, chiropractor cost isn’t too much, and that most of the insurance policies that you’ll find cover it in full or part as a matter of course.
A myth exists that chiropractic care isn’t covered by insurance. The main service of spinal adjustment should be covered by most insurance plans, and can be ordered as a treatment by your primary care physician.
Your chiropractor can even be your primary care physician. This is a great way to get holistic treatment on a regular basis and stay healthier, without needing to make multiple appointments with a higher co-payment. For more information on how you as a Chiropractic patient in Atlanta can better understand your bill, please review the following considerations:
The First Visit To A Chiropractor’s Office In Atlanta
This will often cost a little more. During the initial intake visit the chiropractor will be learning a lot about you, your medical history and take more time to understand your body and what it needs to be healthy. The first bill may be anywhere from $60 – $200.
That depends on the location, tenure and focus of the chiropractor.
If you’re seeing a specialist in San Francisco or Manhattan, that’s probably going to carry a grander price tag than a local specialist in Ohio. Then again, when you search, you may find great deals online and dedicated practitioners who truly want to help as many people as possible even in a gentrified neighborhood.
If you’re worried about price, browse the doctors of chiropractic in your area to find the best doctor for the best rate.
What It Means To Pay Out of Pocket
Once you’ve found a competitive chiropractor, you have the option of paying out of pocket – many people choose this route because it can often be inexpensive, and consider the experience sufficiently life enhancing to make it part of their schedule of preventative medicine.
Consider that a follow-up visit to the chiropractor can cost as little as $30. For many people it’s an affordable addition to their health and wellness, as chiropractors offer services for holistic and nutritional care, and don’t deal strictly with spinal problems.
That being said, most chiropractors have the ability to work with many patients in varying financial situations, and are able to create payment plans that make the recommended services affordable.
Payment Plans for Chiropractic Care Supported with Insurance
Get clear on what the service will cost, and how you intend to pay for it.
With insurance coverage, you’ll need to assess what it will cover, how much your co-payment will be, and if the chiropractor that you’re considering is in your network or out of it.
What you’re paying is going to depend on the plan you’ve chosen. The higher your monthly premium payments the lower your co-payments will generally be. If you’ve bought insurance from the Marketplace, you’re already familiar with the levels of co-payment being broken from the highest to the lowest: bronze means you’re paying less of a premium and more of a co-payment. Gold means you’re paying a higher premium and less of a co-payment.
Maintenance Care Under Medicare
The reason you go to the chiropractor will determine what Medicare is going to cover. While an immediate need for spinal manipulation due to an injury or chronic pain or illness will be paid, maintenance will not.
It isn’t considered “medically reasonable and necessary.”
Here is the definition of maintenance in Chapter 15, Section 30.5.B. of the Medicare Benefit Policy Manual:
“A treatment plan that seeks to prevent disease, promote health, and prolong and enhance the quality of life; or therapy that is performed to maintain or prevent deterioration of a chronic condition. When further clinical improvement cannot reasonably be expected from continuous ongoing care, the treatment is then considered maintenance therapy.”
Ask your chiropractor how the treatment you’re considering is going to be defined by your insurance company, and if that will affect your coverage.