Health insurance may cover treatment for varicose veins if it is medically necessary.
In September 2015 we published a post about simple treatments for varicose veins and got questions about insurance coverage.
Coverage depends on your health insurance plan and medical circumstances. Marshfield Clinic Patient Financial Services can help you find out if your treatment will be covered. Here’s how the process works:
Make a vein consult appointment
The first step is getting a vein consult. Marshfield Clinic Vein Services providers will examine your varicose and spider veins and explain treatment options.
Vein Services staff will submit a pre-admission review request to Patient Financial Services to check your benefits and coverage for the treatment.
Will treatment be covered by insurance?
Each insurance company and plan is different. Some cover varicose vein treatment if it is medically necessary. Others do not. Some insurance companies require the patient to meet a deductible or pay the copay or coinsurance before covering the treatment.
A Patient Financial Services representative can explain what your insurance policy covers.
Medicare will consider covering vein treatment if it is medically necessary.
Marshfield Clinic fee estimators can provide information about a procedure’s cost if insurance won’t cover it.
What does ‘medically necessary’ mean?
Medicare patients must undergo six weeks of conservative treatment before interventional treatment is covered. Conservative treatment includes weight reduction, daily exercise, compression stockings and periodic leg elevation.
Medicare will deem interventional varicose vein treatment medically necessary if patients still have symptoms of significantly diseased blood vessels after conservative treatment. Some symptoms are pain and edema that interferes with activities of daily living, bleeding, lower leg ulcers, inflammation and clotting in veins near the skin’s surface.
Additional criteria and limitations apply to certain types of treatment.
Private health insurance companies and plans may have different criteria for covering varicose vein treatments. A Patient Financial Services representative can review these criteria with you.
Learn more about in-office treatment for varicose veins.
Learn about Patient Financial Services.
Call 877-MC-VEINS to schedule a vein consult appointment.
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Hello! After I gave birth to my second child lots of spider and varicose veins started to appear on my legs. As soon as I could I asked for help and a friend of mine recommended me venorid treatment. The results have been amazing!
I will call on the phone next Monday, March 14.
I had an office visit with Dr. Natarajan Subramanian MD on 5/19/15 and he sent me to Marshfield Clinic in Eau Claire for a dup-scan xtr veins uni/lmtd. My insurance rejected the claim and I did 6 weeks of conservative treatment and reapplied and heard nothing. I paid for my compression stocking and never got reimbursed and the reason is that it is not covered under my current benefit plan. It looks as though Security Health will not cover having my varicose veins removed and I have no idea of the cost of such a procedure.
Hi, Rita. Each insurance plan is different — some cover the treatment if it is medically necessary; others do not. If you would like to learn more information on the cost of varicose vein treatment, our fee estimators would be happy to help. Please call 1-800-782-8581, ext. 9-4475. -Kirstie
I did call this morning using your name and got the runaround and was finally connected to Eau Claire where they looked up my record and said the 2 hour office procedure would cost $7,000 so I will drop the whole matter.
I apologize the process took time, Rita. Thank you for the feedback.