Bill Summary
One in three American seniors lives with chronic pain, and Medicare, the program built to cover their care, still treats chiropractic like it is 1972. That year, chiropractors were recognized as physicians under Medicare, but coverage was limited to exactly one service: manual manipulation of the spine, commonly known as an adjustment. More than fifty years later, that is still the only chiropractic service Medicare pays for. Not the exam. Not the evaluation. Not the things a chiropractor's licensing board requires before care ever begins. Seniors deserve the freedom to choose their doctor and to receive the full range of care their state already trusts chiropractors to deliver.
The Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act, H.R. 539, finally fixes that. When it passes, Medicare's chiropractic coverage will reflect what doctors of chiropractic are already licensed by their states to do, similar to the broader recognition already seen in the VA, Department of Defense, federal employee health plans, and private insurance. Nothing in the bill changes any state's scope of practice. Medicare is a payer, not a scope authority; it simply brings chiropractors into parity with other physician-level Medicare providers. The support is already there: Over 165 House cosponsors, nearly evenly split between the parties. What the bill needs now is a committee vote. That is exactly what constituent pressure produces.
One in three American seniors lives with chronic pain, and Medicare, the program built to cover their care, still treats chiropractic like it is 1972. That year, chiropractors were recognized as physicians under Medicare, but coverage was limited to exactly one service: manual manipulation of the spine, commonly known as an adjustment. More than fifty years later, that is still the only chiropractic service Medicare pays for. Not the exam. Not the evaluation. Not the things a chiropractor's licensing board requires before care ever begins. Seniors deserve the freedom to choose their doctor and to receive the full range of care their state already trusts chiropractors to deliver.
The Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act, H.R. 539, finally fixes that. When it passes, Medicare's chiropractic coverage will reflect what doctors of chiropractic are already licensed by their states to do, similar to the broader recognition already seen in the VA, Department of Defense, federal employee health plans, and private insurance. Nothing in the bill changes any state's scope of practice. Medicare is a payer, not a scope authority; it simply brings chiropractors into parity with other physician-level Medicare providers. The support is already there: Over 165 House cosponsors, nearly evenly split between the parties. What the bill needs now is a committee vote. That is exactly what constituent pressure produces.
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