December 2001

Congressional Leaders Near Decision On
Chiropractic Benefits in Veterans Bill

Washington, D.C. - Leaders of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees have reached agreement on the details of a proposed chiropractic benefit that would be incorporated into the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) health-care system.

After the final agreement was reached on Dec. 10, the U.S. House of Representatives quickly moved to incorporate the agreed-upon legislative provisions into a new bill (H.R. 3447) that was voted on and approved by the full House of Representatives the next evening.

The proposal is now awaiting action by the U.S. Senate, which must formally pass an identical bill before the proposal can be signed into law by President George W. Bush. It was hoped, but not guaranteed, the week before the Christmas holiday that the Senate would take that action before adjourning for the holiday break. Congress had also discussed the possibility of calling a special session to address several legislative issues between Christmas and New Year’s if items still remained on the agenda. If the issue was not acted on, on or before that time, it would be addressed when Congress is back in session after the first of the year.

The agreed-upon language would authorize the hiring of doctors of chiropractic in the DVA health system; would set a broad scope of chiropractic practice; and would allow the chiropractic profession to oversee the development and implementation of the new benefits through an “advisory committee,” partially made up of representatives of the chiropractic profession.

The agreement is similar to legislative language - that became law in October 2000 - requiring the Department of Defense to establish a permanent chiropractic benefit for active-duty military personnel.

Lobbying efforts by the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), the Association of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC), the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) and the World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA), have played a key role in the success of the initiative.

The ACA is hailing the agreement as an historic victory for the chiropractic profession, after an organized counter-campaign by the medical lobby failed to derail the initiative. ACA officials view the Senate’s agreement on such favorable language as a huge come-from-behind victory for the chiropractic profession.

Originally, key Senate negotiators were against including any chiropractic provision at all, and then reluctantly supported a six-site demonstration program. After intense grassroots pressure and active lobbying by chiropractic supporters in Congress, the Senate agreed to a larger-scale program acceptable to chiropractic supporters in the House of Representatives.

“The chiropractic profession has once again proven to organized medicine that we are a force to be reckoned with on Capitol Hill,” said ACA President Dr. Daryl D. Wills. “With the help of chiropractic champions such as Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Congressman Jerry Moran (R-KS), we have once again shown our mettle and prevailed....”

The measure was championed by a strong bi-partisan coalition led by House Veterans Committee Chairman Chris Smith (R-NJ), Congressmen Jerry Moran (R-KS), Lane Evans (D-IL) and Bob Filner (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), Senator Strom Thurmond (R-SC) and Senator Tim Hutchinson (R-AR). Governor Bob Wise of West Virginia was also instrumental in lobbying for support of the legislation.

Key provisions of the new legislative language would include:
• immediate phase-in of the program.
• designation of at least one DVA medical center in each geographic service area of the Veterans Health Administration to provide chiropractic services. The designated sites would be medical centers and clinics located in urban and rural areas.
• scope of chiropractic services that “shall include a variety of chiropractic care and services for neuromusculoskeletal conditions, including subluxation complex.”
• dissemination of educational materials on chiropractic to primary care teams “for the purpose of familiarizing such providers with the benefits of chiropractic care and services.”
• establishment of a chiropractic advisory committee that would advise the Secretary on protocols governing referral to doctors of chiropractic, direct access to chiropractic care, scope of chiropractic and other issues.

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