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With Demand for Complementary Health Care Growing, Pennsylvania Employers Can Now Offer a Health Insurance Plan to Cover this New Care

American Specialty Health Insurance Company Lets Employers Purchase Alternative Medicine Health Coverage Directly as Supplemental Benefit

Philadelphia (January 3, 2005) – American Specialty Health Insurance Company (ASH Insurance), a leading complementary health care organization, is debuting new health plan coverages here that allow Pennsylvania employers to offer low-cost insurance benefits for complementary health care. This makes popular treatments such as acupuncture, massage therapy, vitamins and minerals, and chiropractic/manual manipulation more accessible and affordable for employees.

Employers with 51 or more employees are able to purchase these benefits as a supplemental group benefit rider, similar to purchasing vision, dental, or behavioral health coverage. The benefits are offered by ASH Insurance and are available for both in-state and out-of-state employees.

According to a recent Centers for Disease Control study, the nation’s most comprehensive assessment of alternative medicine utilization, 36 percent of consumers use some sort of "complementary and alternative" therapy.

“With the growing consumer demand for complementary health care and employers’ growing needs for new, cost-effective health coverages, our insurance company is stepping in to meet a need that is often unfulfilled by mainstream insurers,” said George DeVries, president and CEO of American Specialty Health. “As a result, coverage is becoming easier for employees to get.”

According to a new Kaiser Family Foundation study, employees covered by acupuncture health benefits increased from 33 percent in 2002 to 47 percent in 2004, while employees with chiropractic coverage increased from 79 percent of workers in 2002 to 84 percent in 2004.

Employers are increasingly eager to cover complementary health care because of growing evidence that it can help reduce employee medical utilization as well as the overall costs of health care. In a new study released in October in the Archives of Internal Medicine, employees with chiropractic insurance coverage had 41 percent fewer hospitalizations for back pain than employees without chiropractic coverage. They also had 32 percent fewer back surgeries and significantly lower utilization rates for CT/MRI scans and X-rays than employees without chiropractic insurance.

Thomas Butler, DC, a Bellefonte, Penn.–based chiropractor, says the availability of complementary health care coverage is of increasing importance to patients because it offers broader wellness and treatment options.

“More patients today want the choice to be able to initiate their care through complementary care providers, and already ill patients want the option to seek complementary health care when traditional medicine hasn't resolved their health problems, or when they don’t want to rely on prescription drugs to feel better,” said Dr. Butler.

Employees covered by ASH Insurance can access a state network of more than 1,300 contracted providers. And when insureds are traveling, they have access to a national network of more than 22,000 contracted providers, including acupuncturists, chiropractors, massage therapists, medical doctors, and osteopathic physicians. In many cases, ASH Insurance may also cover employees residing in other states.

American Specialty Health (ASH) is the nation's leading specialty benefits organization for complementary health care, providing health benefits, and health education and affinity network programs to employer groups and trust funds, health plans, and insurance carriers nationwide. Based in San Diego, ASH has over 500 employees and more than 11.5 million members in benefit programs nationwide. Its subsidiary, American Specialty Health Insurance Company, is currently licensed or admitted as an insurer in 42 states and the District of Columbia. For more information about ASH, visit ASHCompanies.com or call (800) 848-3555.