Physical Therapy in Idaho Falls (Hope: health insurance, deductible, taxes)

[joox]

Hi.
It have dawned on me that I actually need to seek some help to get rid of the reoccurring pain in my leg. The problem is that I have no clue of how to go about this. Being from out of state and from another country I realized I know little about the way to navigate in the "American system". Therefore, I hope my kind fellow City-Data members can help point me in the right direction.

Since I moved to the US I keep getting my sciatic nerve pinched - at least that is what I think is happening to me. I would like to 1) make sure it's nothing else than muscles pinching a nerve and 2) together with a physical therapist come up with a exercise plan to reduce the risk of reoccurring pain.

My questions:
- May I go to a chiropractor (to find out what is going on with my leg/nerve) without having a doctor sending a forma request to the chiropractor?
- Any chiropractor you can recommend?
- How do I go about to find a physical therapist?
- Do I have to go through a my health insurance? (I truly do not understand the insurance system at all)
- Any PTs you can recommend?

Thank you so much!

/joox

[cleosmom]

In Idaho, there are some services you can obtain without having a doctor's referral, I'm uncertain if PT is one of them as we've always been referred after going to the doctor trying to seek out what the injury was.

As for PTs, I've heard great things about Ellis Physical Therapy | Welcome to East Idaho's Premier Physical Therapy Center (http://www.ellisphysicaltherapy.com/index.htm - broken link). My husband used Physical Therapy Idaho Falls - Mountain View Hospital when he had a herniated disc and they were quite awesome.

You would want to use your health insurance as it will cost you less out of pocket

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Hi Joox, good to hear from you! Yes, the US health insurance system is puzzling when you're used to Scandinavian nationalized health care. In all likelihood you have an HMO plan (it'll say so on your card, and in the pamphlet you got when you signed up/got hired). If that's the case, you're only covered for (basically) what your assigned or selected doctor will recommend, within the plan. But that can actuallytake you quite far, and the co-pay (money paid up front in the doctor's office) is low. If you have a PPO plan, you can generally chose doctors and treatment, and pay a percentage (20 or 30 percent), but there is usually a pretty substantial deductible, like with other insurance plans, and the amount taken out of your paycheck each month for the plan is usually also substantial. And if you happen to have an travel health insurance from Sweden, it will be more like the PPO plan, but it doesn't sound as if that's the case.

If I were you I'd go see the doctor listed on your health insurance card, and get a referral. It is by far the cheapest, and there will probably not be much of a wait. Your health plan pamphlet should tell you what your options are.

You may already be signed up for something called Flex Benefits at work. If that's the case, it's money withheld from your paycheck each month before taxes, and you can use that to pay for health care expenses in addition to what your plan pays for. That is a good idea if you have a health issue you prefer to have treated outside of your plan.

That's just a quick review of the system I'm used to in CA--it may not apply to your situation, though, or Idaho conditions.

Hope you feel better soon!

[cleosmom]

CFF, you're pretty spot on, with the exception that in Idaho I've never seen an HMO, only PPO I must admit when we were still living in CA (over 20 years ago), we were on an HMO and were spoiled by it, going PPO was an eye opener

[joox]

Thank you both for the replies!
I'll try to get hold of a doctor to get a referral.

/joox