The American Chiropractic Association has confirmed what we suspected and reported last issue: UnitedHealthcare has restored its coverage of manipulative therapy for headache.
"We appreciate that UHC weighed the evidence in support of manipulative therapy for headache that ACA provided in its July 23 letter to UHC President Dan Schumacher, and made the determination that patients should have access to this effective, nondrug treatment option," noted the ACA in an Aug. 13 press release. "ACA is especially grateful to the 40 national and state chiropractic organizations that amplified our message and joined with us in our work with UHC to achieve the best possible result on behalf of patients."
The ACA sent the letter to UHC after noting that the insurer's 2018 Manipulative Therapy policy listed headache under the "unproven and/or not medically necessary for treating" section. However, headache no longer appears in that exclusion section, and a "policy history / revision" section at the end of the policy document states the following:
Replaced language indicating manipulative therapy is unproven and/or not medically necessary for:
- "Treating non-musculoskeletal disorders, including but not limited to lungs (e.g., asthma), internal organs (e.g., intestinal), neurological (e.g., headaches), and ear, nose, and throat (e.g., otitis media)" with "treating non-musculoskeletal disorders (e.g., asthma, otitis media, infantile colic, etc.) and internal organ disorders (e.g., gallbladder, spleen, intestinal, kidney, or lung disorders)"
To learn more about UnitedHealthcare's policy history regarding coverage of manipulative therapy for headache, read our March 11, 2008 article, "UHC Rescinds Policy Regarding Chiropractic Reimbursement."
