December 2004

Congress directs $2 Million to chiropractic student loans

DECEMBER 22, 2004 — President Bush has signed into law legislation that includes a directive from Congress to provide $2 million in funding to expand and extend a pilot program allowing doctors of chiropractic to participate in the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) student loan repayment program.

The chiropractic provision, contained in the conference report to accompany HR 4818, was sponsored by Senators Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), and backed by the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) and the Association of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC).

"This a great victory, particularly for the chiropractic college students who are ready, willing and able to serve in the NHSC," said Jean Moss, DC, president of ACC and the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College. "This is an historic time on the campuses of our chiropractic colleges - with not only the new funding for the chiropractic program in the National Health Service Corps, but also the increasing role of doctors of chiropractic in the veterans and military health care systems and the potential to end decades of anti-chiropractic discrimination in Medicare through the Medicare Chiropractic Demonstration Project."

In 2002, Congress approved legislation establishing a special pilot program to assess the impact of making chiropractic care more available in communities served by the National Health Service Corps.

Under this program in 2003, eight chiropractors who had entered into employment contracts with eligible community health centers around the United States and submitted applications to the government were selected to serve as the first chiropractors in the NHSC student loan repayment program. These DCs began receiving tax-exempt student loan reimbursements up to $25,000 per year to continue during a two- or three-year service commitment.

Following selection of this initial group of chiropractors, from a pool of about 90 applicants, NHSC officials unexpectedly announced that the program was closed and would be evaluated without additional groups of chiropractors.

The ACA and ACC protested this decision and worked together not just to overturn it, but also to support new legislation to expand and extend chiropractic participation in the NHSC and the student loan repayment program. The ACA/ACC advocacy effort secured support from Senators Harkin and Specter, Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-Ga.) and other pro-chiropractic leaders in Congress and culminated with final approval by Congress of the conference report on HR 4818 on Dec. 6, 2004.

The NHSC, administered by an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, assists medically underserved communities to recruit and retain primary care clinicians, including dental and mental and behavioral health professionals, to serve in their community. More than 23,000 health professionals have served with NHSC since 1972. Current field strength totals more than 2,700 clinicians/health care professionals whose careers are influencing the outcomes of underserved populations and communities. Many clinicians have remained in service after fulfilling their initial NHSC commitments.

American Chiropractic Association (www.amerchiro.org) and Association of Chiropractic Colleges (www.chirocolleges.org)

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