Fight for Full Physician Status in Medicare

Have you signed the American Chiropractic Association's (ACA) National Medicare Equality Petition yet? As of press time, the association continues to collect signatures from doctors of chiropractic, their patients and chiropractic supporters for the petition, which the ACA says is intended to "raise awareness of how the current Medicare system [which currently serves more than 55 million individuals] shortchanges seniors who want and need the essential services provided by DCs to stay healthy, pain free and mobile."

Visit www.acatoday.org/equality to sign the petition, which ultimately will be sent to the White House and members of Congress. The goal of the petition is to spur legislative action that will define doctors of chiropractic as "physicians" under Section 1861 of the Social Security Act, enabling an individual DC to provide any existing Medicare-covered service that falls within their state scope of practice.

"It's high time we correct this biased statute," said ACA Interim Executive Vice President, Rick Miller. "It's bad for the doctors; it's bad for the patients; it needs to change, and it needs to change now."