Insurer adds The state's largest health insurer, Hawaii Medical Service Association, will begin offering optional alternative therapy benefits in addition to its basic medical benefit plans .
alternative treatments
to health care plan
The new HMSA option follows
a previous change by KaiserBy Lyn Danninger
Star-BulletinThe new complementary care rider includes services such as chiropractic, acupuncture and massage therapy.
Beginning July 1, the rider can be added to one of HMSA's employer group medical benefits plans for a few dollars per month, said HMSA Vice President Cliff Cisco.
Member co-payments for visits to one of the HMSA network of alternative care providers start at $10, he said.
The services are being offered as a result of an agreement negotiated between HMSA and American Specialty Health Networks, a subsidiary of San Diego firm American Specialty Health Inc. The company, which specializes in providing alternative health care products and services, will administer the new benefit plan.
For the past two years, HMSA has offered a discount program for alternative therapies. That Natural Pathways program was also administered by American Specialty Health.
Based on the popularity of that program, Cisco said HMSA developed the new benefit.
The Natural Pathways program, which also features reduced rates for fitness club memberships, dietary and nutritional supplements and products, will continue, Cisco said.
The state's largest health maintenance organization, Kaiser Permanente, has offered an alternative therapies health care program to its employer-sponsored group health plans for the past two years.
Like HMSA's alternative care rider, services include chiropractic, acupuncture and massage therapy.
Kaiser spokeswoman Jan Kagehiro said the organization decided to offer the rider in addition to its medical plans based on increases in questions raised by members about different sorts of therapies.
Kaiser felt that if members are seeking alternate therapies, it is important for physicians to know what kind of services they were receiving, Kagehiro said.
"Members were asking about it and we felt we should be working in partnership with them," Kagehiro said.
To date, about 700 employer groups have signed up for alternate therapy riders, she said.
The cost per month to employers depends on the kind of package purchased, Kagehiro said. Packages vary according to how many different types of services are selected and the numbers of visits.
Alternative care therapies account for an increasing portion of consumer health care spending, Kagehiro said.
A 1998 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association said an estimated $27 billion was spent by consumers on alternative therapies and services in 1997. That compares to around $29 billion consumers spent on doctor's services the same year.