Insurance

Doctors: Please Take Our Survey! We need you to take the CNDA's 10-minute survey about current insurance coverage and rates of reimbursement for naturopathic services - even if you have no interest in taking insurance at your practice! The survey can be anonymous if you prefer.  Many of our members, particularly newer doctors, would like their patients to be able to use insurance to cover some of the costs of visiting a naturopathic doctor. MANY patients would like to be able to use their insurance for naturopathic services! For this to be possible, we need to demonstrate to our state regulatory agencies that insurance coverage of naturopathic medicine isn't currently available to most patients in California.  Your responses are critical to ensuring patients have insurance coverage options in our state! Take the survey now!

 

Under the current health insurance system, most patients in California do not have covered access to a naturopathic doctor. We believe insurance companies have a responsibility to provide this coverage for the following reasons:

• There is a current shortage of primary care providers in California and nationally;
• Patients deserve the freedom to choose their type of provider;
• Naturopathic doctors offer a unique and comprehensive style of preventative medicine;
• Naturopathic care reduces the overall cost of health care;
• Under current federal law outlined in the Affordable Care Act, it is illegal to discriminate against licensed naturopathic doctors. 

Naturopathic doctors are trained and licensed as primary care providers. They complete four years of doctoral-level training, including two years of biomedical sciences and two years of clinical sciences and rotations. To see the curriculum at Bastyr University, California, one of seven North American accredited naturopathic medical schools, click here. Naturopathic doctors are well trained and ready to fill the primary care provider gap.  

Patients deserve the right to choose what type of provider they prefer to see. No one doctor or one style of medicine has all of the answers for every patient. Patients come in all shapes and sizes and from any number of backgrounds and perspectives. Some patients are more comfortable with conventional medicine, while others prefer an alternative medicine approach. Patients interested in alternative and natural medicine approaches to healthcare should not be denied the freedom to choose a trained and licensed doctor with whom they feel most comfortable.

Guided by several principles—including prevention, wellness, doctor as teacher, the healing power of nature, do no harm, treat the whole person, and treat the cause—naturopathic doctors have a unique perspective when it comes to treating patients. They offer a service profoundly different from conventional medical doctors, which spans a patient’s physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. Naturopathic doctors take lifestyle interventions like diet, exercise, sleep, and stress management into consideration and take the time to discuss these lifestyle choices with their patients. Studies show that naturopathic medicine can be more effective than conventional medicine, especially when it comes to treating chronic health conditions.

Naturopathic medicine is a system of medicine rooted in the prevention or reversing of disease with optimal health as the goal. Increasing evidence demonstrates that naturopathic medicine lowers the overall cost of health care by avoiding more expensive interventions like pharmaceuticals and surgery, and it also reduces patients' time away from work, saving employers money. As health care costs continue to rise, the incorporation of naturopathic medicine into the wider health care system is not only prudent, it is time, and necessary. 


More information:

For Patients

Follow the link for resources to increase reimbursement from your health insurance company, or file a complaint if reimbursement has been denied.

For Doctors

Find resources to help your patients with insurance reimbursement for your services. 
Stay up to date on changes in insurance billing, coverage, and credentialing.

For Employers

Find resources for working with your healthcare plan carrier to improve access to naturopathic doctors for your employees. Understand who naturopathic doctors are, what they do, and find research describing cost effectiveness, efficacy, and patient satisfaction.

For Insurers

Find important information regarding the law as it applies to coverage of naturopathic doctors. 
Understand who naturopathic doctors are, what they do, and find research describing cost effectiveness, efficacy, and patient satisfaction.