Sunday, November 24, 2024 | Today's Newsletter | Login
B.C. health doles out cash for Acupuncture
B.C.’s new acupuncture health program began on April Fool’s Day but it was no joke.
The province will be the first in Canada to offer public funds for acupuncture treatments for its Medical Services Plan (MSP) recipients, announced the health minister on Sunday
Acupuncture, the practice of inserting needles into the skin to treat pain, will be available to anyone earning less than $28,000 per year, said George Abbott.
“Acupuncture is recognized worldwide as a safe and effective way to treat or manage a variety of health conditions,” he said in a news release. “The inclusion . . . will ensure that more British Columbians have the ability to explore treatment options that they might otherwise be unable to access.”
B.C. residents with a combined family income of $28,000 or less will be reimbursed $23 per visit to an acupuncturist, to a maximum of 10 visits each year.
MSP also provides funding support to premium assistance patients for selected services of physiotherapists, naturopaths, chiropractors, massage therapists and non-surgical podiatrists. “Acupuncture has been used as an effective therapy for thousands of years and its inclusion as a supplementary MSP benefit is great news for the health of British Columbians,” said Dr. Harvey Hu, president of the B.C. Qualified Acupuncturists and Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Association.
“We hope this move will help to increase knowledge and understanding of the benefits of acupuncture as a treatment method.”
Acupuncture treatments typically involve inserting thin sterilized needles under a patient’s skin to stimulate acupuncture points. The use of acupuncture has shown promising results for the treatment of nausea and vomiting related to chemotherapy, nausea during pregnancy, migraine headaches, chronic lower back pain and pain from osteoarthritis of the knee or hip.
The 5,000-year-old Chinese treatment is also proving effective in reproductive health. It can be used to target the reproductive system by increasing blood flow to the ovaries. Practitioners say the blood’s hormones, nutrients and oxygen create a richer, thicker ovarian lining, to ultimately produce healthy eggs.
The acupuncture profession is regulated under the Health Professions Act of B.C. and there are approximately 1,200 acupuncture practitioners registered with the CTCMA, the regulatory body for acupuncturists in B.C.
Leave a comment
