Maintaining good health and wellbeing and improving symptoms that may be negatively impacting your quality of life is fundamental for your happiness and productiveness. Unfortunately, sometimes the price tag for certain services that may be able to help you can be outside of your budget.
Naturopathy can be a beneficial service for many conditions and ailments. This form of natural therapy involves a range of approaches and modalities, which are delivered by trained alternative healthcare practitioners.
In Australia, we are lucky to have financial support for many healthcare services through Medicare, which is provided by the Australian government. The list is comprehensive, allowing many people access to care they may otherwise be unable to afford. There are limitations to what Medicare can provide, however: not every healthcare service is on the list.
If you are considering naturopathy as a form of treatment, you may be looking into your financial options, and a common question we are asked is ‘are naturopaths covered by Medicare?’. Read on to find out more.
What Are Naturopaths?
Naturopaths are alternative care providers who implement natural remedies to help improve health and wellbeing. They work to improve and prevent underlying factors that are causing an issue instead of purely focusing on the symptoms.
Naturopaths can take a variety of holistic approaches to treat a range of acute and chronic conditions while assessing and incorporating lifestyle factors, environment, medical history, and family background.
These modalities can include:
- Homeopathy.
- Chinese herbalism.
- Remedial massage therapy.
- Kinesiology.
- Iridology.
- Phrenology.
- Reflexology.
- Acupuncture.
- Nutrition and lifestyle advice.
- Aromatherapy.
- Cupping therapy.
- Blood, hair, urine, and stool analysis.
- Functional testing.
Naturopaths can help to treat ailments and conditions such as:
- Digestive disorders.
- Autoimmune conditions.
- Insomnia.
- Chronic pain
- Hormone imbalances.
- Fatigue.
- Obesity.
- Allergies.
- Adrenal dysfunction.
- Dyslipidemia
What Is Medicare?
Medicare is the publicly funded healthcare system in Australia, which is administered by the Department of Human Services. It provides citizens, permanent residents, and other eligible individuals with access to a range of medical services by offering payments and subsidies for certain healthcare and treatment, such as dentist and doctor appointments, and prescription medications through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). Eligible Medicare users can also take up private health insurance if they choose to.
Does Medicare Support Natural Therapies?
There is a huge range of healthcare services, treatments, and medications that are covered by Medicare and private health insurance. This is determined by scientific evidence and service requirement.
Several natural healthcare services are included in this list, such as physiotherapy and exercise physiology. Unfortunately, naturopathy is not included in the services covered by the Australian government. It sits alongside other forms of natural therapies such as Bowen therapy, aromatherapy, and shiatsu.
Naturopathy as a whole is not on this list of healthcare services, however, if you are wanting support for certain natural therapies such as remedial massage therapy, Chinese medicine, and acupuncture, it may be worth investigating your options with health insurance providers. Services such as chiropractic care and osteopathy are considered naturopathy, but many providers allocate these in separate categories, giving you wider support. This support generally comes with waiting periods, which is a designated amount of time before claims can be made. For natural therapies, which is typically classed as extras cover if a provider lists it, can be two months.
Vital Health Naturopaths Are Here To Support You
At Vital Health & Natural Medicine, we are experienced and dedicated to helping you with natural and holistic health care. Domenic has worked as a registered and fully qualified naturopath for twenty years. He has qualifications in functional medicine, live blood analysis, nutritional medicine, electro-dermal screening, medical herbalism, and iridology.
During your initial consultation, we will discuss with you your goals and concerns, and work to identify the underlying factors of your symptoms. We will then develop a personalised treatment plan for you and help you to improve your health, wellbeing, functionality, and vitality.
If you have been experiencing symptoms that you can not find answers for and other options you have tried are not bringing you relief, or if you want to explore natural modalities for treating your health issues, naturopathic medicine may be what you need.
Contact us to organise a free call to learn more about how our services can help you, or to book your first consultation.