The Extended Toll of Bankruptcy

[Barbisi]

Every so often, someone posts about just how horrible and miserable BK 7/13 can be and often is.
Few, however, realize the stress BK13 leaves behind doesn't dissipate instantly once BK ends like some temporal cloud. Instead for some, it imbeds itself deep in your tissues and may remain there for months or even years after your discharge and closing.
In my case, my mysofascial woes did not remain in Colorado where I hoped to leave them .
Rather, they followed to me to Washington state. One of the few downsides to the Seattle area is the tightly controlled and restricted disbursement of PT and chiropractic care. Dry needling (which was mobile saving during some of my shoulder/neck and ankle injuries while the five-year bk13 was underway) is expressly outlawed here and sport acupuncturists are rare in the area I live and as my current doctor wryly noted, "Chiropractors here know to keep in their lane." (i.e., that means few offer Graston, cupping and of course, ART (active release technique.) He was very impressed by my knowledge of the various chronically inflamed parts of my own anatomy, such as levator scapula, QL (quadratus lumborum), supraspinatus, Sub chromium bursa, abductor hallucis, talar drome, etc. He commented that I either had gotten a lot of care or I must have studied medically myself, LOL!
Since all PT has to be coordinated 100% through specialty physicians and only six visits are allowed before an evaluation to continue treatment is mandated, chronic flareups such as mine are difficult to manage because of the time spent finding these sports doctors and scheduling much needed PT treatments (which maybe I can delay or bypass if losing enough weight and exercising as often as I want can make me as healthy as I was before.)
I think the only way around this state bureaucracy is to get as many medical messages as my chiropractor is permitted by law to prescribe, and then continue with qualified but privately paid MTs after that. At least I can afford $100 messages now unlike during the days of BK 13 deprivation.
Maybe that's all I really need!

[Carmella]

Sounds like Physical Therapy and the Chiropractors kept pretty tight licensure laws to help keep the market in their court. Some of it sounds like insurance rules, too, if your husband's new job insurance has different rules.

[Barbisi]

Carmella, it sounds like acupuncturists have successfully lobbied to prevent PTs and chiropractors from utilizing needling and maybe electric stem in care: I'm not sure if Graston is included as well. As I understand it, shockwave therapy has never been included in insurance covered treatments. (I think a patient is allowed to pay out of pocket for these treatments (which is what I did in Colorado.))
It seems that in Washington state, all providers are severely limited in the narrow scope of what care they can provide -for example 6 visits is the standard amount of PT care allowed by insurance here - after that the insurance board decides if the patient is allowed any more therapy at all. (Of course, if you can pay $150 cash per visit you can get more treatments.) I talked to a woman after a yoga class, and she spoke bitterly about needing 100 PT visits and being denied care after the 6th. She said the PT told her she was so much more deserving of continued care than others who were permitted to receive more visits (different insurance?), but they couldn't treat her because the insurance denied the claim, cutting her off at the standard 6-visit limit and she couldn't afford to pay cash to receive additional care.( If you are severely injured in a car crash you may be allowed more visits , I would hope. ) Luckily for us, we can pay out of pocket if that is the only way to get care here.
I think the many billionaire company founders here don't want their employees to receive more than basic care, so they have teamed up with the insurance companies to effectively block insurance access to more costly out of the box treatment options beyond basic PT, acupuncture and chiropractic care or if they do allow it, limit patients to the fewest number of visits/ treatments possible. I also believe chronic myofascial conditions such as mine may not be covered at all because they won't resolve in 6 visits.
I do feel better in this mild, pleasant climate in part because I no longer have to climb stairs dozens of times every day and I have constant access to moisture and humidity. These factors should help to eventually restore some if not all of my pre-Colorado level of good health even if Washington has some of the most restrictive PT/chiro care in the nation.

[Carmella]

There should be an appeal process if you hit the number of visits, but maybe not if there's a strict limit in the policy "you chose" (not you personally but that's what is said). Is this private insurance through jobs or is this a market place insurance? Some of the market place or Medicaid / Medicare replacement products severely limit some aspects of care while giving other perks. You have to really scrutinize if you have a choice and they don't make it easy to find the fine print!

[Barbisi]

Carmella , this insurance is Premera BlueCross (only available in Washington state and Alaska), and is through my husband's new job.
Washington has more Fortune 500 companies than most other states its size (e.g. Amazon, Costco, and Starbucks ) and it does make sense these big companies and others would want to restrict "unnecessary and frivolous" care like sports medicine (which is what things like cupping, Graston, ART, dry needling etc. are) and ensure their employees only get no frills care. From what I understand, since Premera is a company founded and primarily available here, it seems sensible they would curtail costly modalities in favor of less options to save these multi-billion dollar revue making businesses lots of money on medical care.
When I finally get an annual check-up and dental cleaning, I will be able to tell just how substandard Washington access to preventative care is.