The Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act reached a milestone recently by surpassing 150 cosponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The bill (H.R. 2654), which has received strong bipartisan support since it was introduced in 2021 by Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.), gained additional momentum this year with the introduction of a Senate companion bill (S. 4042) by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (R-Conn.).
“We are immensely grateful to the many members of the chiropractic profession and their patients who have contacted their members of Congress in support of H.R. 2654/S. 4042. The 150-plus cosponsors and bipartisan support this bill has attained represents historic progress toward our goal of achieving equity for chiropractic patients and their doctors,” said ACA President Michele Maiers, DC, MPH, PhD.
The statute that currently regulates chiropractic in Medicare has been unchanged since 1972 and limits Medicare beneficiaries to coverage of a single chiropractic service, manual manipulation of the spine. H.R. 2654/S. 4042 would update this and bring Medicare in alignment with chiropractic coverage in most private plans by enabling beneficiaries to access the chiropractic profession’s broad-based, non-drug approach to pain management, which includes not only manual manipulation of the spine and extremities, but also evaluation and management services, diagnostic imaging and utilization of other non-drug approaches.
The use of non-drug pain management as a first line of defense against common musculoskeletal pain is widely supported by clinical guidelines and has become a key strategy in national efforts to stem the epidemic of prescription opioid overuse and abuse.
For a full list of H.R. 2654/S. 4042 cosponsors, and to learn how you can support this important legislation, visit www.acatoday.org/Medicare.
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