Getting acupuncture treatment covered by your health insurance

In general, if you get acupuncture treatment, it will not be covered by your health insurance in Japan. However, some places do offer a treatment option where you can use your health insurance.

I recently found that my back problems came back and since the last time this happened acupuncture seemed to help I started going for treatment again. In case you are also considering acupuncture treatments, this method might help you to save some money. If you pay for everything out of your pocket, these treatments can actually get rather expensive.

First, you need to find a place that offers treatment via health insurance. I got a place recommended to me by my doctor. Then, you will have to make contact with the acupuncture clinic to receive a document called a “doiusho” (同意書).

You will have to take this document to your doctor and have them sign it. Getting the documents signed is not very expensive. I pay only 200 yen more than I would pay for a regular visit when getting the documents for the acupuncture treatment signed.

You can then submit the document to the acupuncture clinic and you are ready to be treated. Now you only have to pay the regular 30% of the treatment cost. I pay about 2,000 yen for a session this way but I assume prices may vary depending on where you get the acupuncture done.

Unfortunately, the doisho is not valid forever and you will have to get a new one every 6 months. But I guess in general you will not need so many sessions that you receive acupuncture treatment for longer than 6 months.

If you have never tried acupuncture before, you might want to first find out how you respond to the treatment and try a session that you pay for out of your pocket before doing the paperwork.

Acupuncture is viewed critically and, personally, I also do not believe in the energy fields of the body that you find in Chinese medicine.

However, I do believe that acupuncture can help to reduce inflammation and reduce muscle tension.

For me, I can say acupuncture helped with my back pain better than any treatment I received from western doctors, who just gave me stronger pain medication every time I went back.

Also, the acupuncture did not come with any negative side effects. If you are suffering from back pain and have already tried several therapy concepts without success, you could give acupuncture a try.  Have you tried acupuncture before?