Medicare, Medicaid, Medicare Supplemental & Advantage Plans

Rev. 05/27/2026

2026 Medicare Advantage (MA) Plans Update

New Hampshire Part C Medicare Advantage plan beneficiaries lost big in the 2026 reshuffling of major insurers serving our state. Most insurers left the state; some (or possibly all) permanently. The few remaining plans are mainly localized to only one or sometimes a couple of the state’s counties and their benefits packages are fair to poor. Especially in the area of what they call “extra benefits”. None of the 2026 plans cover clinical massage therapy at all, according to the Medicare Advantage Plan Finder tool on the CMS website. Very few even offer chiropractic. Acupuncture does slightly better.

The result is that Part C Medicare Advantage (MA) plan insurers in New Hampshire do not currently contract with licensed massage therapists, and therefore we will be unable to file claims for you.

Looking Into The Future

It is possible that the current situation may change next year. Should that be the case, following paragraphs walk you through the steps you may need to take in order for us to file claims on your behalf to your MA plan.

As with our veteran patients, your doctor must refer you to our clinic for evaluation and treatment stating medical indication. Request this referral from your physician directly. Your healthcare provider will need to evaluate you initially or they will have to have treated you in the past for your pain condition in order to send a referral to us. A referral may take several days to reach us.

How To Proceed

  1. Call your plan’s customer service number and ask them to confirm that medical or clinical massage is covered under your Medicare Advantage PPO or POS plan and what the specifics are (deductibles, copays, co-insurance, other costs to you, number of visits, etc.). Also ask if your particular medical condition for which you will be referred is a covered condition for clinical massage therapy.
  2. Call us! We must be in-network with your MA plan or your claim will probably be denied. If we are not participating providers in your specific plan, your visit will not be covered. We may opt to contact your plan and request to enroll with them. This process may take several months to complete if we are not already participating with other plans from the same insurer. Once we are enrolled, we will notify you. If we are already enrolled, move onto step 3.
  3. Call your in-network primary care doctor’s office and ask for a referral for Myoskeletal Alignment Therapy or clinical massage for your covered musculoskeletal pain condition, pathology, prehab/rehab, etc. to be sent to Manchester-Bedford Myoskeletal LLC by mail or faxed to us on (888) 965-6870. The condition for which you are being referred must be a covered condition according to your plan (See step 1 above).
  4. When we receive the referral, we will call you for a short phone consultation and set up your initial visit. We will take your insurance information over the phone in order to confirm plan coverage with your insurer and determination whether precertification is required. If coverage is denied, we will let you know the reason and may appeal the decision.
  5. Once everything is in place, we will email you confirmation of your appointment, visit instructions, and clinic forms for you to complete before coming in for your initial visit.

Medicare / Medicaid

To our great regret, we remain unable to file claims for Medicare, Medicaid, Medicare Supplemental, or MediGap plans as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) specifically names licensed massage therapists as ineligible to enroll as either participating or non-participating providers.

The Struggle Is Real

Please be sure that we here at Manchester Bedford Myoskeletal continually advocate for access to commercial healthcare networks for our patients’ benefit as we only provide medical musculoskeletal therapy for pain management. We do not provide relaxation massage services except when specifically physician referred for anti-opioid pain management and cancer stress-related therapy.

You can self-advocate by urging your insurance company and New Hampshire legislators to make exceptions for and include state licensed massage therapists who provide clinical massage services on physician referral. Some of us want to serve the insurance patient sector (most don’t!) and contract as in-network providers with insurers who sell medical insurance policies in our state.