Is Massage Covered by Extended Health Insurance?
Many people today are fortunate enough to have Extended Health Plans through their place of employment. These plans cover areas that are not payed for by OHIP such as massage therapy, physio therapy, chiropractic, dental, counselling and more. This is a great advantage to you that allows you to be proactive in your own health and well being.
If you do not have Extended Health Benefits through your employer, or are self employed the option to buy into a plan is available, that's what those annoyingly repetitive commercials on TV for Sure Health (Green Shield) and Manulife are about.
The amount that you are covered for under each category per session and per year depend on the contract your employer has set up with the Extended Health Carrier. This information is provided to you in a booklet form or online by the Extended Health Company that covers you under your specific place of employment. The coverage ranges from full to partial, for example 100%, 80%, 50% per visit, then there is a maximum limit per year, $300.00, $500.00 or more. It is surprising how many people do not know what they are covered for, or how much coverage they have per visit or per year.
The year for the plan may run from January to January or from July to July, this is important to know so that you know when to calculate the amount remaing for you to use and when it kicks in again once you have reached your maximum per year.
Some Insurers require that you get a prescription from your physician for massage therapy, others do not, again it is specific to your own plan. If you do require a prescription it will most likely need to be renewed regularly, often yearly.
Most plans require that you initially set up and activate your online account with them so you can submit your claims easily and securely online.
The good news is that at Medi-Massage we make it easy for you to use your Extended Health Benefits for massage therapy, by providing the service of direct billing on your behalf. We submit to most major insurance companies. Just inform our Customer Care Coordinator at the desk that you have benefits that you would like to use. Bring in your card, fill out the short information form provided and sign the consent forms that allow us to direct bill for you and allows the payment to come directly to us.This information is stored in your file and is used on following visits. If ther is a change in your plan at any time please keep us informed and updated.
While you are in treatment we electronically submit to your Insurance Company and they inform us what portion they will cover for the visit, then you only pay the balance remaining. Occassionally we recieve a message that the submission will be reviewed and no amount is given to us at the time. In this case we require that you leave a credit card number on file so that if the Insurer covers partially or not at all we will inform you and charge the balance to your credit card. Some Extended Heath Companies (Desjardin) do not allow payment to come to us directly, in that case we can submit for you and the payment will go to you.
For a list of the companies we currently direct bill to see the Direct Billing page on our website.
Enjoy the benefits of Extended Health while you enjoy your massage!
