John Schroyer
Enthea, a legal insurance provider that covers ketamine-assisted therapy, announced Wednesday that a groundbreaking year-long study that offered treatments to employees of California-based Dr. Bronner’s soap company revealed “eye-opening” results.
The experimental coverage program, which launched in January 2022 as an “ancillary benefit” and had zero cost for Dr. Bronner’s employees, found that only 7% of eligible employees utilized the ketamine regimen, but of those, improvement was observed in:
- 86% with post-traumatic stress disorder
- 67% with major depressive disorder
- 65% with generalized anxiety disorder
“While not everyone experiences such deep healing, many of our team members have reported dramatic improvements in their lives as a result of ketamine-assisted therapy,” David Bronner, the cosmic engagement officer at Dr. Bronner’s, said in a statement.
The ketamine treatments were overseen by San Diego-based Flow Integrative.
Based on the results, Enthea has teamed up with mental health provider Nue Life to roll out a new telemedicine and at-home ketamine treatment model for its patients, including employees at Dr. Bronner’s as well as all other patients, an Enthea spokesperson said.
The new partnership “begins with a limited rollout that will allow patients to be safely and conveniently treated in the comfort of their own homes,” according to a press release.
Ketamine-assisted therapies often “support improved productivity, increase employee retention rates, lower medical costs, and a more engaged workforce overall,” Enthea asserted in its release.
The cost of such treatments is still a major obstacle for many, since most insurers won’t cover psychedelic treatments. Ketamine-assisted therapy typically costs into the range of $750 to $1,000 per session. And patients typically need four to six sessions, according to a report from Water Tower Research.
But a spokesperson for Enthea confirmed that none of the Dr. Bronner’s employees had to pay any amount out of pocket thanks to the insurance coverage.
“All treatments were 100% covered by Dr. Bronner’s,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to Green Market Report.
