The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: one year later

March 28, 2011 — Signed into law a year ago this week, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) continues to stir debate in Congress, the courts, and in the states.

The bill, more than 2,400 pages long, is the most sweeping piece of legislation to affect the profession in many years. And when fully implemented, PPACA will have a major impact on the chiropractic profession for decades to come.

ACA and its Summit partners have dedicated resources, both on the volunteer and staff level, to ensure that hard-won gains remain in the bill and that further opportunities for chiropractors and their patients are amplified during the ongoing regulatory process.

Specifically, they seek to ensure the full applicability of Section 2706 (Provider Non-Discrimination) to insurance plans (including ERISA and state exchange plans) as the primary mechanism through which doctors of chiropractic can provide services in the newly regulated environment created by PPACA — and to ensure no language is adopted at the federal level relative to “essential benefits” that would specifically exclude the services provided by, or the participation of, DCs. Read the latest summit document on the implementation process here.

Source: American Chiropractic Association, www.acatoday.org