Our Insurance Policy
We are not affiliated with any HMO or PPO. While
this is an inconvenience to many of you, Dr. Gunter has tried
both systems and, they simply do not work. Someone is always
shortchanged in managed care; either the Doctor receives a ridiculously
abbreviated fee or the patient suffers through inadequate care
that is commensurate with the managed fee.
We will provide you with a receipt that you can send to your insurance company. The receipt includes standardized chiropractic procedure codes for your visit, which your insurance company can understand and process.
The present state of health care and the insurance
industry is a debacle, as we all know. (Please refer to The
Health Insurance Mess in Articles.)
At the Healing Experience, we have attempted to
provide therapies that produce a rapid successful healing. With
the value you receive for $65, we are certain we have done our
part in keeping health costs low; e.g., Dr. John Brimhall offers
similar services based on $500 an hour with the doctor present
only half the visit time.
Another problem that arises from using your health
insurance to pay for alternative care is the way your insurance
company interprets the data on you. Seeing a chiropractor to
relieve your migraines will not result in your insurance
company documenting that your migraines were cured by a chiropractor.
It will, instead, record not only migraines, but, list spinal
problems as new pre-existing conditions.
For example, Dr. Gunter has seen only chiropractors
and acupuncturists for his own health care needs for the past
twenty-five years. When seeking health insurance, he found that
his coverage does not extend to any part of his spine because
he has seen only chiropractors. They believe he must have a
severe pre-existing spinal condition.
All of your insurance data is collated and evaluated statistically using actuarial tables. They predict your future health and adjust their premiums to reflect how healthy they expect you to be.
To avoid the actuaries misinterpreting your alternative
health care visit, we recommend you pay for it yourself and
don't tell them. Your insurance company would have paid only
a fraction of the bill anyway. If you pay it and do not file
a claim, you will appear healthier in their computerized records,
thus resulting in lower rates for you and fewer pre-existing
limitations in your overall coverage.
Overall, visits to Dr. Gunter will tend to be
more cost-effective rather than costly. And, should you have
a particularly complicated case that requires long-term care
you still have the option to file a claim with your insurance
provider.
By the same logic, we do not recommend filing
health maintenance visits with your insurance company. (See
Services
for health maintenance information.)