If they agree to pay, how much can I make them pay for. I have a beard, some mustache, some hair scattered over my back that is pubic-like, dark hair on my stomach, dark hair climbing up my chest, dark hair on my arms, and coarse, black hair on my legs. Is this too much to ask for? Will they set a limit in dollars?
Should be the same as they would pay for your sergery, if God fobid, you needed one. If it’s a medically necessary treatment for a diagnosable and treatable disorder, then there should be no difference wheather the treatment is done by a sergeon in the hospital or an electrologist.
The “medically necessary” part is what will trip you up. Permanent hair removal is almost without exception cosmetic, and by definition, not “medically necessary.”
this is great… i just read the old post link and there was great info about insurance and all that…
but i am a little bit saddened because the old posts said that insurance wont cover electrolysis done in underarms because it is “cosmetic”… however, i have had this problem for years, where i get these (sorry for the graphics) pimples in my underarms that really hurt and they happen if i shave, wax, sugar (anything) the hair in that area. They sometimes appear around an ingrown hair or in the contour of the skin that gets irritated from shaving. They are red, sometimes with puss and are really big and painful. I even try not to take the hair out because i fear these large pimples that get there…
i know a friend that has the same problem and visited the doctor who actually surgically removed these large pimples… because they hurt!!..
i have never had electrolysis or any permanant hair removal before and after reading this site might consider electrolysis for my underarm, especially because of these hurtful pimples i get and do not want to get anymore (because i get them from removing the hair)… they also have left ugly scars in the underarm area and i hate that even if i do shave/wax and there is no hair (temporarily), but then there are these pimples that appear or old bumbs get inflammed and become hurting again… so whats the point!!
by the way, my underarm hair is dark, back and thick! worst combination eh? 
do you guys think the insurance company will pay for this? I am in Canada by the way.
appreciate any help and this site is great…before this site i only noticed laser for removing hair… and i didnt know electrolysis was the better choice (thats what i got from this site)… 
rachel
Hello Rachelle;
I don’t know what province you are in, but regardless, have you discussed your particular case with your family practitioner? If your friend required surgery for a situation that sounds familiar to what you’re going through in your particular situation as you describe it, then you may want to discuss this with your family doctor. Removal of armpit hair just for the sake of removing it is cosmetic and insurance usually won’t cover this. But if the hair is contributing to your ongoing problems, then your doctor would have to confirm this and it would be the doctor that could hopefully try to help you to convince the appropriate provincial medical plan that the removal of this hair goes beyond the usual “cosmetic reasoning”. It certainly doesn’t hurt to try this route, at least you will get an answer, be it yey or ney. Hopefully it’s a positive answer. What happens if you do nothing to the armpit hair in the first place? For example, no shaving, waxing, tweezing, etc. If you were to just trim the hair very very close to the skin as an experiment, do you then develop any contraindications? For example, pimples (large or small), any rashes, does your skin show any abnormalities present that could be the result of the presence of this armpit hair? If you wish to try for insurance coverage for all of or even a portion of any prospective hair removal treatment, you will have to have an ironclad convincing case that the presence of this hair is what is contributing to your pimples and that the removal of it will alleviate your problem. If this situation is developing because of the method(s) that you employ to remove this hair, then that’s a whole new ballgame. You’re best to run this question by your family doctor because it’s the doctor that the medical plan will end up liasing with in the end anyway. A medical exam could possibly uncover other factors that you may want to be aware of. For example, hormonal factors, et al. Don’t give up but follow through on this for your satisfaction. Take care, good luck and I hope good things will happen for you.
thank you eddy for your great reply!.. let me answer some of your questions:
i do stay lengths at time without removing the hair… and the skin starts to heal (although there are alot of scarring)… but if i shave or tweeze or sugar, then the pimples that were healed return and sometimes new ones pop up… so it is because of the methods i use to remove the hair… the problem is i cant just leave the hair there forever!.. i am female and i need to be clean and i have clothes to wear and with armpit hair… um… really unpleasant view… so the point for me to permanately remove the armpit hair is because it would enable me to stop shaving, sugaring etc… and so these painful pimples would not emerge…but then again if i dont remove the hair (and stay hairy)… the pimples eventually heal and the skin gets better (besides the permament scars)… but hair is present, which isnt hygenic anyway and must be removed (at least in my opinion…lol)…
i have been to a dermatologist about the acne… but it was for my back (becasue at the time i didnt have armpit acne and i was much younger than now)… and she gave me antibiotics and creams… all which did not work at all… for my back i just got used to it and they are also extremely painful… but they have been becoming less in # and less frequent. but the armpit acne happens with the methods i explained… the back acne just appears when ever it wants to… (i guess its hormonal… but the doctor’s solutions did not work and i just got used to my back problem)…by the way, i dont shave my back or touch it at all. so acne there not from hair removal but something else.
and i am from ontario… i will go to the doctor again and see if i can get this insured … if not… i still want to remove the hair permantely because really its problematic for me.
thanks again so much for your reply and help. i wish you all the best and i will try to keep you all posted if and when i go to get anything done.
rachel
I forgot to mention the brown pubic hair all over my behind.
As I am from Canada let me put a bit of information in here.
For you to claim the costs under insurance you will have to have a doctor sign off on the treatment as medicaly necessary.
However, you can do what I did and write the costs off against your personal income taxes. Under Canadian tax law cosmetic removal of body hair is allowed to be writen off against personal taxes. You will need to provide full detailed receipts for each session you have, noting the person who did the work, the time and place the work was performed and the full costs paid including taxes. It helps to go to an electrolysist who is certified and has a buisness licence. You will most likely get auditied as I have for each of the last 2 years but not to worry as all you have to do is resubmitt the full receipts and have patience.
For me, given my tax bracket this made the effective costs of my treatments 30% lower out of pocket.
balius!! thanks so much…your reply was extremely helpful… so tell me, when you filed your personal taxes… you just included the electrolysis/laser treatement receipts with it? and i am assuming you included a doctor’s note to prove that you need hair removal or is that not necessary to get the treatements tax deductable? and when you got your tax reciepts back, was there a section on there that listed the hair removal and that it was deducted from taxes?
thanks again for the info!
rachel
Hello Rachelle
If you file you taxes yourself you do not submit the receipts upfront, but more then likely you will be sent a letter of audit asking for them to be sent. I have heard that they like to audit people just to see if they are willing to go through the hassle of saving and submitting proper receipts. Proper receipts are not credit or debit slips but actual sales receipts listing the buisness number, GST number, services done, time spent, practitioner who did the service, date of service and total costs including taxes. If some of the above can not be provided since it may be from a home based buisness then you might have more issues getting reimbursed since that home based buisness may not be registered or paying income taxes.
Electrolysis is claimed as an legit medical expense and you get the amount you can write off by filling in the medical expense form that is included in the tax forms one picks up at the post office etc. A doctors letter is not required and believe it or not other cosmetic procedures like liposuction and botox can be written off too.
Just hang tough if they audit you for receipts, you will prevail in the end.
Chris
thank you chris. i really appreciate your help 
rachelle
[ July 15, 2004, 07:33 PM: Message edited by: rachelle ]