Contemplating a career in Acupuncture?

Prick, Prod, & Provoke is primarily a place of prolific positivism - sometimes I think we CAN bloggers are a bunch of pollyanna peas in a pod, though not necessarily naively optimistic as that term usually conveys. We are a trusting bunch - a necessary attitude when taking a leap of faith with a new business model in a somewhat "on the fringe" profession.

Nonetheless, as my teachers have often advised, it is sometimes important to speak out openly about injustice and not pretend that it does not exist, hence the sometimes incisive nature of the commentary here.

In that spirit of not covering up ugly behavior and the perpetuation of highly questionable information from the acupuncture schools, I thought it might be useful to share a story about the final months of my traditional, insurance based practice in favor of launching a Community Acupuncture clinic.

Back in early March when I was shuttling between my BA and CA practices, I saw a patient a number of times. Immediately she felt the treatments were helping with her, and committed to coming several times a week for a period of some weeks.

She gave me her insurance information and I dutifully mailed out my claims on a weekly basis. Six months later, I am still waiting to receive final payment for these services from a company - I won't name precisely let's just use the pseudonym - United Greedcare International.

I am told this is a rather large health insurance company which pays its CEO in excess of 100 million dollars a year. (Does that possibly hint about where managed care's ultimate priorities lie?)

Beginning about 45 days after my initial treatments to the patient - back in late April - I began to call the insurance company, inquiring about the whereabouts of a check for my services. And so began a lengthy phone relationship with call centers around the world, patiently navigating electronic phone menus, listening to cheery music over speakerphone while on hold, and then finally, enduring dubious story after story as to why my check had not arrived.

At one point, they said my claim had been forwarded to the Demographics Department in order to verify my address. Another time they claimed to have mailed a check (never arrived). Finally, a few weeks ago, they told me that the patient's insurance had changed and I should seek payment from the primary insurer. Well sure, for all I know, the patient may have died since I performed the treatments.

I always kept notes, tried to be patient and speak patiently to the hourly worker in the Philippines or Pakistan. As a last resort, I politely requested to speak to a Supervisor and threatened to turn the case over to my State Insurance Commissioner. Shortly thereafter, I received a check arrived in the mail, though not for the full amount.

Make no mistake, these companies are in the business of making money for their top execs and investors. It seems obvious to me that their "corporate culture" is engineered specifically to delay and deny payment as long as possible. Let practitioners and insured absorb the costs of health care. Never mind the excessive premiums.

Call in Congress? Did you see Sicko? There is a revolving door of money and favors between Congress and health care lobbyists. Is this a sustainable system?

Who cares? Not your problem? Let your office staff take care of these messy details. In the idealistic world that the acupuncture schools paint, every new graduate quickly has a busy practice and is able to afford office staff to keep pace with the exploding growth in the American acupuncture market. Right?

Wrong. The numbers don't support this spin. Nobody really knows how many acupuncturists actually survive 5 years out of school, but the figure that seems to be mentioned a lot is 30%. That is, 70% don't make it. Meanwhile, the debt load for new acupuncturists continues to rise steadily, keeping pace with rising tuitions and inflation in general. As has been written elsewhere in detail on the CAN forum, the number of acupuncturists in the U.S. has remained stagnant for several years.

And while nobody in the mainstream press talks about the impending collapse of the managed care system, just as all great empires eventually fall, famous people die, so too will sun set on the current health care system.

Acupuncture is a wonderful healing art, with incredible potential to bring healing to people and the planet at this critical time, but be careful about buying into assumptions fed to you by institutions all riding on the current party boat as hurricane clouds continue to build on the horizon.