”Recently, I had a particularly bad experience with my health insurance company. They required me to send them a doctor’s note before I could see a chiropractor. Is this normal?” I’ve come across this question many times.

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It certainly is never required by any responsible chiropractor that I know of. Insurance companies seem to take a renewed interest in the well-being of their customers every so often and you will hear people talking about such and such policy. Is it a requirement?

I have had an ongoing dialogue with insurance companies for over 20 years and there is only one thing you need to know about their requirements. They are allowed to ask, but whether or not they actually do so depends on your relationship with them!

In other words, if the company wants more out of you than they are getting, they will make certain demands. These demands may be based on the number of claims you make or they may be completely arbitrary. They can require whatever documentation (they call it a medical necessity) that is necessary to establish the need for a chiropractic procedure. If this was not so, anyone could go in and have a chiropractor crack their knuckles and the insurance company would be obligated to pay for it.

Perhaps your company is looking for reasons not to cover chiropractic care, but most companies really do want their customers to get well. If they can help their customers with a little manipulation of the system, they will certainly try! Whether or not you sent a note will not make any difference.

The insurance companies have quotas to meet, they have to justify their existence and if they can use you as an example of someone who is looking for any excuse not to get treatment then that is the interpretation they will place on it.