I had just read about the report to congress on the evaluation of the demonstration of coverage of chiropractic services Under Medicare. For those who are covered by Medicare and have never understood why chiropractic was so poorly covered by Medicare, your ship may be arriving shortly. Chiropractic was hastily added to the Medicare program in the 1970's with the inclusion of spinal manipulation only. Our patients know that manipulation without working the muscles of the body which attach to them is often of minimal benefit however, politics has so far prevented full inclusion as it did in the 70's. Our profession has lobbied hard for full inclusion because it is a detriment to the public's welfare to leave things the way they are. Most seniors do not or cannot understand why other doctors are covered for all their services yet, their visit to the chiropractor is more expensive because of this. It makes little sense, especially after the study I will tell you about in the following paragraph.
The government ran a study a while back giving chiropractic full benefits in three areas of the country a couple of years ago. They study showed that under medical treatment, 11% of the people reported relief of pain. When you compare this to 60% of the respondents who used the chiropractors reporting relief of pain, without the use of drugs, convincing seniors to visit chiropractors first for back pain, neck pain, and other problems should be a priority. How can the government not cover chiropractic services fully after study results such as these? The current coverage is a vestige of the 1970's when chiropractic was less accepted. With statistics like these, the government should be racing to get this passed into law. Statistics are statistics and the truth is coming out about the effectiveness of chiropractic especially with senior populations. Stay tuned and hopefully, we will see chiropractic fully covered in Medicare. I will let you know when this occurs.