Licensed naturopathic medical doctors (NMD) are not yet federally licensed and may not be considered a provider on most health care plans. Many insurance companies consider naturopathic physicians as out-of-network providers in the states which they have licensure. There is a current trend for insurance companies to recognize licensed naturopathic physicians’ services with insurance reimbursement. With some insurance plans, the patient needs to ask to be pre-authorized for their visit to assure coverage. Other insurance plans offer reimbursement for services and supplements after the visit has been completed and paid in full. Reimbursement often requires obtaining a service summary from your physician at your visit. Some insurance plans, health savings, or flex spending accounts may require a medical necessity letter for reimbursement.
Whether or not your insurance company will cover any or all of your visits can also largely depend on the type of coverage you have. You can contact your insurance company to find out precisely what your policy covers. When you call your insurance company, be sure to let them know your naturopathic doctor is a licensed primary care physician in Arizona. Many patients do get at least partial reimbursement for their visits. Standard laboratory tests are often covered by insurance as the laboratory is contacted directly with your insurance.
If your policy does not cover naturopathic medical services, you can try to modify your policy by contacting your insurance company. Most insurance companies will write a plan to cover naturopathic medicine, but you must request the coverage, depending on if your plan is an individual plan or a group plan.
At this time, naturopathic physicians are not eligible to be providers within the Medicare/Medicaid network. Eligibility has to do mainly with government legislation, but the Arizona Naturopathic Medical Association is working to have naturopathic physicians considered providers.
In Arizona, Cigna, Arizona Care Network, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and United Healthcare may offer reimbursement for visits with your naturopathic physician.
At this time, Be Well Medical is in the process of contracting with some insurance companies. Until then, our patients would pay the “out-of-network” price and submit it to their insurance company for reimbursement. Ask us for more information on submission during your next visit to our office.