Does Medicare Cover Naturopathic Medicine?

Some Medicare Advantage (Medicare Part C) plans may cover naturopathic medicine and certain alternative treatments, though coverage will vary from plan to plan.

Naturopathic medicine is not typically covered by Original Medicare (Part A and Part B).

Does Medicare cover alternative treatments?

Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) helps cover inpatient hospital care and skilled nursing facility care.

Medicare Part B (medical insurance) helps cover medically necessary services and preventative services.

Neither Medicare Part A or Part B typically cover alternative medicine or naturopathic treatments, such as acupuncture.

Some services that are covered by Medicare, however, include:

• Medical nutrition therapy for people who have diabetes, kidney disease or who have had a kidney transplant in the past 36 months
• Depression screenings
• Alcohol misuse therapy
• Physical therapy

Be sure to check with your doctor to see if a particular service or treatment is covered by Medicare or if there is an alternative option you can consider.

Original Medicare also doesn't typically cover prescription drugs. If you want Medicare prescription drug coverage, you typically have two options:

• Enroll in a Medicare Advantage (Medicare Part C) plan that includes prescription drug coverage.
  
  
• Enroll in a Medicare Part D prescription drug plan

You can learn more about Part D plans available where you live and enroll in a Medicare prescription drug plan online in as little as 10 minutes when you visit MyRxPlans.com.¹

Medicare Advantage May Offer Additional Benefits

Medicare Advantage (Medicare Part C) plans must provide the same benefits as Original Medicare, and most Medicare Advantage plans provide benefits beyond those offered by Medicare Part A and Part B.

For example, most Medicare Advantage plans cover prescription drugs and some offer vision, dental and wellness benefits.

Specific plan benefits will vary depending on the Medicare Advantage plan you enroll in. Always review plan benefits details to see which services may or may not be covered.  

Or call 1-800-557-6059 1-800-557-6059 TTY Users: 711 24/7 to speak with a licensed insurance agent.

About the author

Christian Worstell is a senior Medicare and health insurance writer with MedicareAdvantage.com. He is also a licensed health insurance agent. Christian is well-known in the insurance industry for the thousands of educational articles he’s written, helping Americans better understand their health insurance and Medicare coverage.

Christian’s work as a Medicare expert has appeared in several top-tier and trade news outlets including Forbes, MarketWatch, WebMD and Yahoo! Finance.

Christian has written hundreds of articles for MedicareAvantage.com that teach Medicare beneficiaries the best practices for navigating Medicare. His articles are read by thousands of older Americans each month. By better understanding their health care coverage, readers may hopefully learn how to limit their out-of-pocket Medicare spending and access quality medical care.

Christian’s passion for his role stems from his desire to make a difference in the senior community. He strongly believes that the more beneficiaries know about their Medicare coverage, the better their overall health and wellness is as a result.

A current resident of Raleigh, Christian is a graduate of Shippensburg University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

If you’re a member of the media looking to connect with Christian, please don’t hesitate to email our public relations team at Mike@tzhealthmedia.com.

 

 

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