Chiropractic Issues

Chiropractic in the Military
 I recently received the following information from one of my chiropractic news sources, Dynamic Chiropractic:

H.R. 5202 Mandates Chiropractic at Every VA Medical Center by 2010
Providing chiropractic benefits to the nation’s veterans has been a goal of the chiropractic profession for decades. Chiropractic founder, B.J. Palmer, first promulgated the idea of making chiropractic a health benefit for veterans as early as 1937, and even succeeded in having a bill introduced in Congress that would’ve given veterans access to chiropractic services. While Dr. Palmer’s original efforts were unsuccessful, the profession finally reached its goal in January 2002, when President George W. Bush signed into law the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Programs Enhancement Act, which established a permanent chiropractic benefit within the Veterans Affairs health care system.

H.R. 5122: Guaranteeing Chiropractic Care to All U.S. Military Personnel
On October 30, 2000, President Bill Clinton signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2001, which included a historic provision requiring access to chiropractic services, including “care for neuromusculoskeletal conditions typical among military personnel on active duty.” It also required full implementation of chiropractic benefits be over a five-year period throughout all service branches of the military, and mandated that the Department of Defense develop an “implementation plan” to ensure adequate provision of chiropractic benefits. Building on the requirements of that provision, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed new legislation that would expand access to chiropractic care not just to active-duty military personnel in the United States, but also to all members of the armed services at U.S. military treatment facilities worldwide.

The passage of this language is a victory for our men and women in uniform, as they are one step closer to accessing the chiropractic care they need and deserve. Obviously these are new and marvelous mandates in which we, as chiropractors, can offer a health regime of immediate care and maintain care so that the men and women protecting our country can enjoy these healthful benefits through these tense and stressful times. IBI