The real reasons I don’t take insurance or Medicare

 

“If it was so great,
wouldn’t everyone be doing it?”

Part II 💥💥💥

 

Great afternoon to you, New Day sunshines! Thank you for opening this message ☀️

 

One of the interesting things I’ve noticed about having been in practice for 10 years is that I feel a lot more calm and self-assured about my decisions and reasons for doing things.

 

When it comes to having a business, working in healing, and caring for people, there are so many decisions to be made on a daily basis that can change the whole trajectory for you and for others.

 

It gets a lot easier to make those kinds of decisions the longer you’ve been doing something and the more you trust yourself (and the more other people trust you!)

 

One of the other interesting things I’ve noticed lately is that even though I’ve been in practice for 10 years, it is possible to feel and be treated like I am brand new and have no idea what I’m doing!

 

Now that I’ve moved to a new location that is just far away enough from the old New Day, I find that when I meet people I am often being regarded as a fresh young upstart! 🐤👼👩‍🦰

 

For example, I was sitting with a man I had recently met networking through the Skokie Chamber of commerce, and he was asking me some questions about New Day. Among them was, “Why don’t you take Medicare?” (the government run insurance policy for seniors)

 

When I gave the man my answer, bless him, he acknowledged my points but pressed me further.

 

“That might be true,” he began. “But wouldn’t you see more people if you were taking Medicare? Don’t you want to see more people?”

 

If I sound like I’m complaining about this gentleman, or the line of inquiry, I’m not!

 

It’s actually been incredibly helpful the extent to which I have needed to have a beginner’s mind, and be able to explain myself and the benefit I provide to people anew! I’m grateful!

 

And so, as is often the case, I suddenly felt a blog coming on! 😂🙏☀️

 

Why don’t I take insurance or Medicare? And don’t I just want to see more people for care? Let me take you on a quick journey in my train of thought on this topic 😊

 

Why I choose not to take Medicare or insurance– the basic reasons

 

I’ll come back to that question about seeing more clients at New Day in a moment. First, let me get to the outer layers of this onion 🧅🧅🧅

 

1. The amount of time and energy it would take to fill out forms and get on the phone with insurance companies would be time and energy prohibitive.

 

Most of the time when someone asks me why I don’t take insurance, I start here.

 

After all, anyone who’s dealt with trying to get paid by an insurance company knows just how time-consuming and potentially soul-sucking the experience can be 😱

 

Wouldn’t it make more sense for me to devote my time and effort to patient care, rather than haggling with insurance companies? Especially when I’d have to take time and energy and probably hire staff to handle all of this (and likely raise my prices on everyone to help pay for this effort?)

 

2. A lot of insurance companies only cover “chiropractic” for whatever (small) number of visits to the extent that they (might) cover procedures that use the Spinal Manipulative Treatment CPT codes.

 

Basically what this means is that a person might have an understanding that their insurance “covers chiropractic.” But what that actually means is that they cover care involving “Spinal Manipulations” to resolve muskoloskeletal, pain-based issues.

 

Here is what Blue Cross Blue Shield considers “spinal manipulative treatment”: “Chiropractic Manipulative Treatment(CMT)-CMT procedures use high-velocity, short-lever, low-amplitude thrust by hand or instrument to remove structural dysfunction in joints and muscles that may be associated with neurologic or mechanical dysfunction of the spinal joints and surrounding tissue.”

 

It will make perfect sense to you if you have experienced Network Spinal care, or learned much about it, that the adjustments therein could never be accurately described as Spinal Manipulative Therapy.

 

A further problem is the why. Blue Cross Blue Shield, Medicare, and other insurance providers go on to stipulate that the coding that chiropractors use to submit insurance claims must be used to treat diagnosis codes relating to musculoskeletal and pain-based issues.

 

Not only is there no room for preventative or wellness based care in this model, but there is also no room for the myriad other reasons people see me for Network Spinal care.

 

Anxiety? Depression? Low energy? Poor posture? Just being able to feel calm, connected, and like you can think straight? 😱😂🙏 #seriouslythough #theydontcallitanattitudeadjustmentfornothing

 

In the medical/insurance based model chiropractic is not considered a treatment to help with those experiences and you would therefore would not be reimbursed.
 

Why I don’t take insurance or Medicare– the real/deeper reasons

 

Not having the time and energy for insurance company rigamroles, and having “chiropractic” coverage that generally only applies to traditional chiropractic procedures and areas of focus might already seem like fairly sensible reasons not to take insurance or Medicare.

 

But you still might find yourself thinking, “I get all that, Dr. Katie. But I happen to know that I have really good insurance. Would it be that hard just to try it?”

 

Here’s the deeper issue I have. I don’t like LYING! 😂

 

First, I would have to be comfortable misrepresenting the adjusting procedure by coding with Spinal Manipulative Therapy as the procedure.

 

And then there’s the larger problem of the need for diagnosis codes and notes that make it look like the purpose of my care with you is to treatment of pain-based, musculoskeletal issues.

 

For me and with this particular form of care that I do with my clients at New Day, I cannot pretend for one moment, whether it’s to an insurance company on the bull**** forms and notes that I need to produce for them, or if it’s to a client newly starting care, that the focus of what we are doing is to make their pain less bad in as few visits as possible.

 

I’m not here to help bring your lower back pain from 8/10 to 3/10. I can’t pretend that I am. I’m here to have this care and this experience CHANGE YOUR LIFE as your spine and nervous system change 💥💥💥

 

If your pain changes, you have more energy, you have more awareness in your body, etc, I want it to be clear that this is happening because YOU are changing and healing ✨

 

Check out this watch I got recently! Could it be more perfect for us at
New Day???

 

I’m actually not trying to see more clients!

 

Whew! I said it!

 

It sounds so wrong and so like exactly what you’re not supposed to think, let alone say, when you have a business and provide a service aimed at helping people and changing lives.

 

And let me clarify, I DO want to see more clients in that I am currently engaged in enthusiastically scheduling and seeing folks for appointments who have never worked with me before. I think that will always be the case 🤗

 

But what I will not do is fall victim to this thought process:

 

“Sure, wellness-based care that helps people physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually is the main thing. But why not just accept the insurance until the patient’s visits run out, then after that start charging them later? You know, just to get them in the door and give them a chance to try what I have to offer?”

 

I’m sure there are many doctors that feel this way, even if they also feel that the work they do with clients has a bigger picture 😢

 

Some people might think it’s ok to compromise their integrity and “play the game,” so to speak, otherwise the average person won’t give them and their care a chance. Just do what it takes to get them in the door, and then sort it out later. #soundslikeanightmaretome

 

I wrote a blog a while back as the beginning of a response to an amazing and hard-hitting question I got from a client at an Intro to Care gathering.

 

That question was, “If this care was really so great, wouldn’t everyone be doing it?” (I recommend you CLICK HERE to check that one out!) 🤯🤯🤯

 

Before I wrote that blog, I shared that question with my husband. His response was immediate and decisive.

 

“Because people want a quick fix! Because the average person doesn’t want to look deeper at their issues. They just want someone to fix them and basically have it cost nothing.” 😱😂🙏 #straighttalk #sadbuttrue?

 

 

 

I may be a little more generous in my view of people and human nature.

 

To the extent that “people aren’t ready,” for Network Spinal in terms of their thoughts and behaviors, I blame the aforementioned and disucssed  “health care” and “health insurance” systems, as well as some other social, systemic issues, for having much of our society only able to focus on instant gratification and feeling distrustful of going outside the status quo. I don’t think it’s human nature per se.

 

At the same time, it must also be acknowledged that my care isn’t going to be for everyone. Nor should it be!

 

I don’t focus on quantity when it comes to my work with clients and growing the New Day community. I focus on quality, and the depth of our connection ☀️💗

 

I mean, if you’ve been watching me over the last few years you might have surmised that someone who gets rid of her front office staff and moves her office from Chicago into a home-based practice in Skokie is probably not making decisions based on potential volume 😂😂😂

 

To the extent that “everyone” isn’t doing Network Spinal care, I think, is a reflection of the fact that it is not necessarily for everyone at this time in history. I’m here for the ones who are.

 

But times are also changing!

 

Note the fact that historically and now, many of my clients are young people.

 

You might be thinking that this is because I am young(ish!) (and if you think that, thank you!) 🥰

 

But no. I think the reason I have so many younger people in my care is that the idea of taking care of oneself proactively is more of a young person’s, 21st century idea.

 

Also, I think younger people grew up during a time when networks and systems have been ubiquitous; therefore the logic of Network Spinal makes more sense. It makes less sense to young people to only focus on fixing the broken part (after it breaks!)

 

I don’t think everyone in the world necessarily needs to have their nervous systems healing and upgrading like we do in Network Spinal care for the care to help change the world 💥💥💥

 

My purpose is to send you out of New Day shining more brightly for the world, lighting up others and contributing to a greater global future. You are some of the bright lights in your families, workplaces, and communities, and you are making a difference by taking care of yourselves the way you do ☀️🌍💥💖

 

Whew! That was a long one. If you stayed with me, THANK YOU for all your energy and engagement. I look forward to seeing you for your adjustments tonight and next week (I am NOT in the office next Monday morning due to a wedding on Sunday, but I will be here in the PM hours!)