More than 20 members of Congress and presidential advisors attended the ACA 2004 National Chiropractic Legislative Conference to support the fair treatment of the chiropractic profession

In early March, senior lawmakers and presidential advisers, including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert (R-Ill), and the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, Tommy Thompson, appeared before a crowd of more than 500 DCs, students, state association officials, college administrators and faculty, and American Chiropractic Association (ACA) staff gathered in the nation’s capital for ACA’s 29th National Chiropractic Legislative Conference (NCLC).

Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson says doctors of chiropractic give Americans “the opportunity to improve their quality of health.”

This year’s NCLC was the most successful and productive chiropractic advocacy event. With the ACA recognized as one of the 20 most effective health care lobbying organizations in America (the ACA was listed 19th among the top 25 health care organizations included in the ranking that appeared in the November 26, 2003 Washington Times), congressional leaders and the president’s cabinet officers accepted invitations to address the largest group of NCLC participants since the mid-1990s effort to defeat plans to create a government-run health system.

This year, the mission of NCLC was to follow up on the enactment in 2003 of three ACA-backed bills aimed at expanding access to chiropractic care for America’s seniors, veterans, and military service personnel. In a show of unprecedented force for the profession, hundreds of ACA and SACA members attending NCLC joined to schedule and participate in meetings focusing on chiropractic issues in the offices of all 100 senators and all 435 representatives.

The result was to place the concerns of DCs and their patients on the top of Washington’s policy agenda for each day of the conference. Members of Congress and Bush administration officials responded with pledges of support on the priority issues of the chiropractic profession, including full implementation of Medicare’s test of expanded access to chiropractic services, inclusion of chiropractic care in the veterans health system, swifter implementation and expansion of chiropractic care for America’s military personnel and military retirees, inclusion of doctors of chiropractic in the Commissioned Corps of the US Public Health Service, and immediate improvements in the National Health Service Corps student loan reimbursement program.

A few of the headliners in conjunction with NCLC 2004 expressed words of support and encouragement:

• House Speaker Hastert: “I supported the Medicare Chiropractic Demonstration Project and worked to keep it in the Medicare reform bill even when others opposed it. This demonstration is an opportunity to show that chiropractic can keep people well and give people good choices. [To me, a doctor of chiropractic] is someone who can get people well without giving them a pill. One of the great things Congress has done to further advance the practice of chiropractic [and educate members of Congress] was to get a doctor of chiropractic serving in the US Capitol, and we have a great guy [Bill Morgan, DC] who can actually touch members of Congress and make them well and whose office is getting busier and busier.”

• Sen Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and author of the Medicare Chiropractic Demonstration Project enacted in 2003: “Many Americans, especially older Americans, rely on the valuable treatments provided by chiropractors. I worked hard to create a reasonable demonstration project to test how the health care services chiropractors provide might become a permanent part of a new and improved Medicare program. We got the job done, and we did it over a lot of opposition [from organized medicine and other special interest groups] that didn’t want it to happen. As an Iowan, I know that chiropractic has proven itself for 100 years. As I stand here today, I want you to know that my commitment to fairness for chiropractic care will continue.”

• HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson: “In the Medicare modernization bill, you have a great 2-year demonstration program that will show America that chiropractic care is cost effective and offers patients quality health care. I will make sure that I get [your demonstration project] up and running before I leave Washington. As the national voice for the chiropractic profession, the ACA has contributed significantly to improving the lives of countless Americans. I applaud your impressive accomplishments over the past 3 decades and appreciate your commitment to increasing the health and well-being of our country.”

• Sen John Kerry (D-Mass), presidential candidate: “I believe it is long since time that our nation and its leaders acknowledge the important work done by chiropractors and knock down all existing barriers to chiropractic care. I would be honored to have your support as I seek the presidency, and I look forward to working with ACA members throughout my campaign and in the years to come.”

• Sen Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Appropriations Committee: “I am proud to be chiropractic’s best supporter in Congress. Because I work every day to make sure chiropractic is not discriminated against in the VA and military health systems, Medicare, the National Health Service Corps, and other health programs, I am pleased that you’re here today to help educate—I don’t say lobby, I say educate—your members of Congress. So, in the immortal words of Dr B. J. Palmer, ‘Throw away your wishbone, straighten up your backbone, stick out your jawbone and go for it.’”

• Sen Jim Talent (R-Mo), Armed Services Committee: “I am going to give you my guarantee: We are going to get chiropractic care ... for America’s military.”

• Sen Arlen Specter (R-Pa), Chairman, Veterans Affairs Committee and Chairman, Appropriations Health Subcommittee: “I want Americans to have the benefit of chiropractic services. I was pleased to sponsor a bill in 2001 to provide that chiropractic services be made available to our military personnel, and to lead the effort to pass legislation in the 107th Congress to see to it that our veterans have access to chiropractic services. I think Medicare ought to cover chiropractic services as well.”

The success of NCLC 2004 has created an opportunity to make new progress for the chiropractic profession in the year ahead. Every ACA member, DC, and patient can get involved and join the ACA’s grassroots campaign to ensure that doctors of chiropractic and their patients are treated fairly in federal health programs.

“NCLC 2004 was the most successful and important public policy program in the history of the chiropractic profession,” said Donald Krippendorf, DC, president of the ACA. “ACA members—including hundreds of chiropractic students—were heard loud and clear on Capitol Hill, providing a big boost to pro-chiropractic legislation now before Congress.”

Currently, the ACA is working with Congress—and urging chiropractors nationwide to lobby their representatives—to ensure that the Medicare demonstration project is implemented without delay or obstruction.

In 2004, the Defense Department is expected to make chiropractic care available in a new group of facilities and to provide for the hiring of more DCs. To extend chiropractic care benefits to military retirees, dependents, and survivors and to create new opportunities for DCs, the ACA recently helped introduce HR 3476, sponsored by Rep Ed Schrock (R-Va) and Rep Lane Evans (D-Ill). This bipartisan legislation seeks to direct the Defense Department to develop a comprehensive plan to provide chiropractic care services and benefits for all covered beneficiaries under the TRICARE program and to include military dependents, retirees, and survivors.

To view the ACA issue briefs that were delivered to members of Congress or to directly contact your representatives in Washington, visit www.acatoday.com and click on the Legislative Action Center, or call ACA government relations: (800) 986-4636. CP

Jon Hymes is the ACA vice president of government relations. He was a senior legislative advisor and campaign strategist for two members of Congress. Hymes can be reached via email: jhymes@amerchiro.org.