I practice my medicine in the state of Florida, around the city of Orlando to be exact. You may not know that the state of Florida has the third most practicing Acupuncture Physicians in the country. We are only behind the states of California and New York. I will explore the various reasons for this in another blog.

The point is that the general public is more educated about TCM than in most other states. Due to this, there is more demand for our services and the public wants to have some relief from the cost of treatments. My patients are my strongest advocates because they know this medicine is effective in treating disorders such as pain and stress/anxiety.

I have a number of people who say that they know that TCM works but that they just don’t have the money to pay for the services out-of-pocket. I usually work out a payment plan with such patients. However, this dilemma just points out how critical Insurance is for our profession to thrive at its maximum potential.

I can assure you that the leaders of TCM in Florida and in the nation are very aware of this. They have been fighting very hard to get TCM onto more Insurance plans. I am a member of my Florida’s most prominent professional organization, FSOMA(Florida State Oriental and Medical Association). I can’t tell what a difference we are making.

We have a lobby group that helps us to educate state legislators and government officials on the advantages of TCM in comparison to traditional Western medicine. They also educate and advocate to Insurance companies to include TCM on their plans with practitioners getting reimbursed competitively.

Are we close to being satisfied at this point? No. However, we have seen these legislators and Insurance representatives being more receptive. This alone, gives us the motivation to continue on steadfastly.