By Rebecca Cook
The Associated Press

Health care costs are rising so rapidly that the Washington State governor has proposed cutting services like dental care for the poor.

Yet some state senators, including Korean American Sen. Paull Shin, think the state should spend millions of dollars to add acupuncture as a benefit for Medicaid patients.

Shin, D-Mukilteo, said he used to be skeptical about acupuncture, but it helped him after he hurt his back.

"People in America have accepted acupuncture," he said Feb. l, before a Senate health committee hearing about the bill. "We need to recognize it."

Shin, the sponsor of Senate Bill 5280, said acupuncture is cost effective because it help reduce the need for expensive surgery. He told the committee it would save as much as 35 percent in health care costs. He said later he had heard that cost-saving figure at a naturopathic medicine seminar, and he couldn’t remember what the source of the information was.

But getting this bill passed won’t be easy. "It doesn’t quite compute to add another benefit at a time cuts are being made," said Eric Latham, chief operating officer of PROVAIL, a dental clinic for disabled patients. About 25 percent of the clinic’s low-income patients may lose their dental coverage if the governor’s proposed budget cuts are implemented.

The state’s Medical Assistance Administration, which administers Medicaid and other health care programs for the poor, is anticipating a cut of $l67 million in this budget.

Along with dental care, vision care for the poor and the medically indigent program are on the chopping block.

"We just don’t feel this is a good time to add a new service," said James Wilson, who runs the Medical Assistance Administration for the Department of Social and Health Services. Wilson said a similar bill that failed to pass last year would have allowed l2 acupuncture visits per year and would have cost $l0 million to $ll million. This year’s version would authorize eight visits a year.

The theory that adding a benefit like acupuncture will save money in the long run just isn’t true, said Regence BlueShield Chief Medical Officer Jeff Robertson.

"It will be offset by reduced services later, is the thinking," Robertson said. "That never happens.

A l996 law requires health insurance providers in Washington State to include acupuncture as a benefit, although they are free to limit the number of visits. Insurance providers have historically opposed adding new benefits such as acupuncture.

Regence BlueShield, which has about l million Washington members, analyzed the acupuncture benefit and determined that it adds cost, said spokesman Chris Bruzzo. Rather than using acupuncture to replace or prevent the need for traditional medical service before turning to acupuncture. Health committee Chairwoman Sen. Pat Thibaudeau, D-Seattle, who cosponsored the bill, said she supports the idea but doubt it’ll catch on in such a tight budget year.

"With a $l0 million To $ll million fiscal note, this is going to be more than a little tough," she said.

Clinical trials have shown that acupuncture is an effective treatment for dental pain after surgery as well as nausea caused by surgical anesthesia and cancer chemotherapy, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Acupuncture is also commonly used to treat back pain. The World Health Organization lists 40 conditions suitable for acupuncture treatment, ranging from insomnia to Parkinson’s disease.

Rebecca Cook can be reached at scpnwan@nwink.com.