Massage

[Jillian]

Ive been prescribed massage therapy by my doctor for my sore back, as I was in a car accident this year...Does my medical cover this? (In Canada)

[Cathou]

Depend on your insurances. Most of them will cover it if:

- You have bill from a Doctor
- If the Massage Therapist is a member of known board that can emit receipts for insurances.

You should ask them before.

[Patyal]

I don't know how different it is from here in the US, but you might ask your doctor to refer you to a rehab clinic. They generally have chiropractors who will do the massage and adjust you, and because it's result of an accident, it should be covered.

Might be worth a try.

[SusanF]

I think it's only if you have a benefit plan (like through work).

[Alicrmt]

I am a massage therapist in Canada (Ontario) and I treat a lot of MVA patients. Basically, there are a few ways that this will work for you:

1. Check your extended health insurance for massage therapy coverage (if you have extended health). We are obligated to go through this first, if it exists.

2. This should be covered under your accident benefits with your car insurance company...did you report the accident and get a claim number? Normally most patients are seen sooner, after the accident, but IMO it shouldn't be a problem if your doctor is suggesting it and the file with your insurance company is not closed.

3. If you DO plan to go through your car insurance, even if you have extended health coverage which needs to be exhausted, a treatment plan will need to be filled out by the therapist and supervised by either your family doc, (or physiotherapist or chiropractor if you are having any of those other treatments for this) and faxed to your insurance company for approval. Basically the reason for this is that you want to know your insurance company has approved the treatment in case you need MORE that what your extended health care company will cover.

It sounds a bit confusing, but it's not really. Of course this all applies if you are in Ontario....I'm not sure how it works in the other provinces. Feel free to PM me if you have questions.

ETA - I just noticed I think you are in BC....I would imagine BC is similar, as we have similar licencing requirements for RMTs, but I'm not positive on that...

[mich56]

Ive been prescribed massage therapy by my doctor for my sore back, as I was in a car accident this year...Does my medical cover this? (In Canada)

Did you settle with ICBC yet?? If not, they should be covering it as long as you have filed a claim for injury from that accident.

[Jillian]

Nope, i havent settled my claim yet. I do also have extended medical through my hubbys work.