Arizona, looking to fight opioid addiction, proposes chiropractic care coverage for Medicaid

Arizona’s legislature is looking to join the more than 25 states that currently cover some form of chiropractic care under Medicaid.

The Arizona Legislature has proposed Senate Bill 1097, which has passed through the Senate. More states than ever are seeing chiropractic care as a vital option for combating the growing opioid epidemic in the U.S. and providing alternative options to deal with chronic pain.

The U.S. government’s National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health says that chiropractic care “appears to benefit some people with low-back pain and may also be helpful for headaches, neck pain, upper- and lower-extremity joint conditions, and whiplash-associated disorders.”

The use of chiropractic care by adults increased from 9.1 percent in 2012 to 10.3 percent in 2017, according to the NCCIH.

The bill would allow patients 20 yearly chiropractic visits, and potentially more at the referring physician’s discretion.

“Everybody is different. Twenty visits would probably be something where we can get them to the point where the (pain) is a little more managed,” Renee Haberl, DC, a chiropractor practicing in Scottsdale, told AZ Central. “But a second referral would probably be needed for some of the more chronic conditions.”

Twenty-seven states cover some form of chiropractic coverage under their version of Medicaid, according to the Arizona Association of Chiropractic.

Earlier this year the Arizona House Bill version, HB2120, passed, including “medically necessary chiropractic services” in services covered by the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, Arizona’s Medicaid agency.