New York Physical Therapy Association Launches Campaign Against High Co-Pays

ALBANY , NY (06/04/2009)(readMedia)-- The New York Physical Therapy Association (NYPTA) has launched a campaign to end unfair and excessively high physical therapy co-payments known as "specialty co-pays." NYPTA's campaign urges Physical Therapists and their patients to contact their legislators to ask for fair-co-pays and for support of two bills in the State Legislature, S.4321 (Breslin) / A.8171 (Cahill), which will prevent managed care companies from requiring patients to pay these excessively high co-payments for PT.

"Physical therapy provides cost effective care that gets people back to work sooner, reduces pain and suffering and gives people the opportunity to live happy and productive lives by maximizing their potential for movement." Stated James Dunleavy, PT, President of NYPTA, "Insurance companies have decided to place a barrier between physical therapy and their patients for purely financial reasons."

Dunleavy continued: "Patients who need physical therapy are having a hard time keeping up with these high co-pays which are keeping them from finishing their care and reaching their goals. Managed care health insurers have designated physical therapists as specialists for co-payment purposes, allowing health plans to charge patients more per visit while maintaining reimbursement levels to physical therapists, thus shifting more of the cost burden onto the backs of consumers. These specialty co-payments add up for New Yorkers, since physical therapy frequently requires multiple visits over an extended period of time as the practice of physical therapy works in conjunction with the healing process."

Log onto http://www.faircopays-betterresults.com/ to learn more about this campaign and how these high co-pays are adversely impacting physical therapy care.

The New York Physical Therapy Association (NYPTA) is a non-profit professional organization composed of approximately 5,000 licensed physical therapists (PTs), physical therapist assistants (PTAs) and PT/PTA students. The NYPTA is dedicated to serving the public's health interests, improving the standard of health for people of all ages, and advancing the interests of physical therapists in the State of New York.

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