MIchele E. Merolla II, D.C.

What chiropractor in New Bedford takes my insurance? This is a great question, often asked when someone is experiencing neck or back pain. Or a work-related injury, or a car accident. And if you’re already in pain, it’s a question that needs a fast answer! So what chiropractor near me takes my insurance? The short answer? Our office participates in and accepts almost every health insurance in the area. Even the ones you haven’t heard of. If you want to skip the article, Call the New Bedford office at (508) 996-6781. We can hop online and tell you in a minute or two exactly what your insurance covers. There is no charge for this service and you DON’T have to make an appointment. While I can’t speak for every chiropractor near you, I can tell you how insurance works in our office. This is real-time working information we have put together. It should cover almost all insurance situations that we see in the New Bedford area. We are lucky that in Massachusetts’s, any chiropractor should be able to take your insurance. But there are some variables that can make it easier or harder to access chiropractic. They are: Does the chiropractor accept insurance payments? Is the chiropractor a participating provider in your insurance? Does your insurance cover chiropractic care? Did your employer alter the plan? This can change or remove the chiropractic coverage that might have been there. Do you have a large deductible on your plan? Were you involved in a recent car accident or work-related injury? Let’s take there issues one at a time ACCEPTING INSURANCE Chiropractors do not have to accept health insurance. It can be a cash-only practice in which you pay a reasonable fee per visit with no insurance involvement. But when a chiropractor does not accept insurance, there may be a workaround. If your health insurance covers chiropractic, you can submit the bills to the carrier. Sometimes, the chiropractor will create the bills for you to submit. Sometimes the chiropractor will submit them for you after you have paid them. A chiropractor may have a reasonable cash fee even participating in your insurance. This can apply in special situations, one example is if you run out of insured visits. PARTICIPATION IN HEALTH INSURANCE A chiropractor can be a participating provider or non-participating. Another way of thinking about it is are they in-network or out of network with your insurance. A participating provider is a doctor who has sought out your insurance and signed up to provide care. When this happens it usually means less or no deductible for you and lower copayments. It is the same if the chiropractor is in or out of network with your insurance. In-network means participating. But there are times you may go to a chiropractor that is not in-network or participating. One example: your insurance comes from out of state. The chiropractor may be out of network and not participating if it is not a national plan. This is usually a rare occurrence around New Bedford. DOES THE INSURANCE PLAN COVER CHIROPRACTIC? In general, in the New Bedford area, almost all insurances cover chiropractic. Does your insurance plan have a high deductible? Some but not all insurances have some form of deductible. This is an amount paid by you before your insurance will begin to make payment. For example, if you had a $100 deductible and the chiropractor submitted $100 in bills, you would have to pay that $100. Your deductible would now satisfied. Your insurance would pay for any visits afterward. YOUR EMPLOYER CHANGES YOUR INSURANCE PLAN A company can change the inner workings of an insurance plan so that it does not cover chiropractic. This also is rare but can occur. I have seen it play out like this. Someone comes into the office because a friend is treating using Blue Cross Blue Shield. They also have this insurance. But because it comes from a different company, there is no chiropractic coverage. Same insurance name, but no chiropractic. Involved in a whiplash injury (car accident) or an injury from your employment (work related). These types of injuries can change how to use health insurance. Your health insurance may need the bills submitted to the auto or work comp carrier. Often the insurance related to the injury then makes payment. This leaves your chiropractic coverage intact and unused. Good for use for some other type of non-injury related situations. Situations like back pain after cleaning the yard. But sometimes you will use your regular health insurance even with an injury. Examples of this are claims denied. Claims in which the insurance runs out. Claims that have a high deductible. THE BOTTOM LINE ON A CHIROPRACTOR ACCEPTING YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE Once again in our area, most insurances have some version of chiropractic coverage. It is really about finding a chiropractor in your network, accepting your insurance. You should be able to to call your health insurance and simply ask for a list of providers in network!