03/28/2023

Bipartisan Bill to Modernize Chiropractic Coverage in Medicare Re-Introduced in U.S. Senate and House of Representatives

S. 799 / H.R. 1610 Would Allow Chiropractors to Practice to Their State’s Full Scope of Practice, Enabling Medicare Patients to Access Additional Medically Necessary Covered Services

Email Senators Stabenow, Peters, and Your Member of Congress TODAY!

On March 14, 2023, the Chiropractic Coverage Modernization Act (S. 799 / H.R. 1610) was re-introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill would allow chiropractors in Medicare to practice to their state’s full chiropractic scope of practice, enabling chiropractic patients to safely access medically necessary conservative, drug- and surgery-free care.

Imagine being able to provide your Medicare patients with access to the full complement of the chiropractic profession’s broad-based, non-drug services, including manual manipulation of the spine and extremities, evaluation and management services, diagnostic imaging, and utilization of other non-drug pain management approaches that have become an important strategy in national efforts to stem the epidemic of prescription opioid overuse and abuse.

Last session, the MAC secured seven Michigan co-sponsors in the U.S. House – half the Michigan delegation. Five of those members of Congress – Rep, Jack Bergman, Rep. Debbie Dingell, Rep. Bill Huizenga, Rep. John Moolenaar, and Rep. Tim Walberg – were re-elected to their positions in 2022. Congressman Moolenaar is an original co-sponsor this session, and we are working hard to ensure that all 13 members and Senators Stabenow and Peters sign on to co-sponsor the bill, but we need your help!

Contact Senator Peters, Stabenow, and your U.S. Representative TODAY and ask him or her to co-sponsor S. 799 / H.R. 1610, the Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act. Use the MAC Legislative Action Center to send your federal representative an email on this topic. If you live in one district and your office is in another, send an email to both representatives. This is an important first step in the long campaign for full inclusion in Medicare!

Stay tuned for ways you can get your patients involved, too. The only way we will make this bill a reality is to get chiropractic patients engaged and involved!

More on S. 799 / H.R. 1610 – The Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act

There is little doubt that if H.R. 2654 is passed, it would be the most important patient-centered federal chiropractic victory since the profession was first included in Medicare in 1972. Medicare beneficiaries would benefit greatly from having improved access to chiropractic care. Plus, given the enormous influence that Medicare has on both Medicaid and private health insurance, passage of the Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act could revolutionize chiropractic’s standing in America’s health care systems.

The current Medicare law is unfair to chiropractic patients and the profession. It also drives the skyrocketing costs of the Medicare system – a system that we as federal taxpayers are funding – by pushing patients into higher risk, higher-cost medical alternatives and away from the use of safe, efficacious, and cost-effective chiropractic care.