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Orange County Chiropractic District
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Memorandum to: ACA Board of
Governors, House of Delegates and other interested parties In this report: 1.
VA ALERT: LATE-BREAKING NEWS VA ALERT: LATE-BREAKING NEWS We learned on Friday from the
minority staff of the Congressional Veterans Affairs Committee of the initial
draft of a chiropractic provision that would be included in the veteran's bill.
While it contains some good provisions, it has a major flaw.
It talks about an unacceptable demonstration project. We already did a
demonstration project in DOD, and we don't need more statistics to prove that
chiropractic works or that it would assimilate into the health care of the VA.
We made clear our objections, but believe that these words need to be
backed up by strong grassroots support.
The subcommittee will mark up the bill on this Thursday with a vote
by the full committee on next Wednesday. I have attached a copy of the
Legislative Alert that was issued by our Governmental Relations Department
yesterday. You will recall that we ran into
similar problems when the committee was considering the draft of our DOD bill
last year. Then we were told that
if anything with chiropractic would be included it would be subject to major
restrictions. We responded, or
better yet you responded, with major political pressure from the districts, and
the rest is history. Let's make
them feel some political heat on this. THE NEW POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT IN
CONGRESS (The short version) September 11th changed the way
business is done at the capitol, at least in the short term. There is a new
sense of unity and a need to put aside political differences.
The president meets weekly with leaders of both parties and is on the
phone with them frequently. In an
unprecedented move, the speechwriters for the president worked with the
speechwriters for Congressman Gephardt so that their individual presentations on
the Saturday radio program didn't conflict with each other.
While fundraisers were cancelled the first two weeks after the tragedy,
they are beginning to pop up again. However,
the strident and partisan fundraising letters that political consultants made a
living on have been shelved. While
the focus has been on addressing the threat from terrorism, the president did
meet the other day with the four Congressional leaders just to focus on the
domestic programs. In an attempt to get back to normalcy, there will be a push
to address many of the domestic issues that were on the political plate prior to
the tragedy. But I do think that only those issues where there is an opportunity
for consensus will be pushed vigorously. What does this all mean to us?
Well, Congress will undoubtedly open its wallet to requests from the armed
services, which could mean that our request to increase the appropriations in
the armed services from $6 million to $15 million has an opportunity to pass.
I would suspect that veterans programs would be looked at in an even more
positive light, which should help our legislative initiative in this area.
Medicare may be problematic as it would certainly be contentious and
threatening to the unity of the day. We
are recommending that our doctors continue to pursue cosponsors of the Watkins
Bill, which has grown to 49 Congressman. Even
if the issue isn't addressed this year, the co-sponsorship will carry over to
2002, when we think that Congress will have no choice but to act on Medicare.
We are still not sure about the student loan issue this year.
As you know, we were successful in getting the Senate version that passed
out of the committee to include a chiropractic provision.
We believe it will pass the Senate.
While the committee on the House side is still not sure whether it will
be taken up this year, it undoubtedly will be taken up next year since it
doesn't raise partisan concerns. The environment in Washington,
D.C. could change overnight and your staff is continuing to monitor the
situation. We will be meeting with
our Legislative Commission to further review the situation and will be reporting
on any changes that we see as they develop. NEW YORK STATE GUARD COMMISSIONS
FIVE DOCTORS OF CHIROPRACTIC As earlier reported, Dr. Floyd
Miller was commissioned and called to active duty in the New York State Guard as
a Capitan. It is ACA' s
understanding that a total of five doctors of chiropractic have been
commissioned in the New York State Guard (one Major and four Captains). The ACA has received reports that the doctors are doing very
well and have quickly become vital members of the Guard. Although this does not directly relate to commissioning in
the DoD health care system as we first thought, the great work of these five
doctors significantly advances the issue. MANAGED CARE SUMMIT POSTPONED:
FOURTH SOLUTIONS WORKSHOP ON SCHEDULE Due to the tragedy of September
11th and the subsequent airline disruptions, ACA has decided to postpone its
meeting with the leading chiropractic managed care networks in the country. The
meeting was originally scheduled for September 28th, and has been rescheduled
for January 11th. The fourth Insurance Solutions
Workgroup scheduled for October at National College is on schedule.
We anticipate that a large number of insurance carriers will participate
in the meeting, which will include a tour of the college and the development of
a chiropractic program for claims adjusters. REPUBLICANS IN YOUR WALLETS It has come to the attention of
ACA political staff that doctors are being targeted in an aggressive GOP
fundraising strategy. Several
doctors have received calls from representatives of the House Majority Whip, Tom
DeLay. The caller details how the doctor is one of a select number of doctors
who are being asked to join the "Physicians Advisory Board." This
special board is set up to advise Republicans on health care issues such as HMO
reform and under-funded and frivolous HCFA mandates.
However, when doctors agree to join this board, they are quickly asked
for a $500 donation. It
appears these calls are designed to take advantage of doctors' willingness to
take an active role in health care reform.
The ACA feels it is our responsibility to inform the chiropractic
profession of this political fundraising campaign. The ACA is not discouraging
your participation or support for this program. However, when you get a call
from a fundraising entity, we suggest you get exact details of the program you
are joining before donating any money. As a dyed-in-the-wool Reaganite,
having to acknowledge a problem with the Republican Party hurts.
But I have gotten over signing PAC checks to Democrats a long time ago. The bottom line is, what is best for this profession should
take precedence over party preferences. OCTOBER IS SPINAL HEALTH MONTH Back pain is pervasive among
American adults, but a new and disturbing trend is emerging among the nation's
youth. Young children are suffering
from back pain much earlier than previous generations, and the use of overweight
backpacks and poorly-designed computer workstations is a contributing factor.
This October, during Spinal Health Month, the ACA will urge doctors of
chiropractic around the country to contact parents, teachers and school
administrators to take steps to help stop this trend.
A sample Spinal Health Month news release, proclamation, camera-ready ad
and other planning materials were mailed with the August-September "members
only" issue of ACA Today and can be found on ACA's Web site in the
"members only" section. ACA AND FOOT LEVELERS: POOLING
CHIROPRACTIC'S RESOURCES TO HELP DISASTER VICTIMS In the past two weeks, Americans
have come forward in unprecedented numbers to offer assistance to the victims of
the September 11 terrorist attackS - and the chiropractic profession is no
different. In the days after the
attack, both the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) and Foot Levelers
announced they had set up disaster relief funds in conjunction with the American
Red Cross - with Foot Levelers generously offering to match donations up to a
total of $200,000. Since that time,
money has been pouring in from concerned doctors of chiropractic across the
country. In an effort to pool our
profession's resources to most effectively assist the victims of the horrific
attacks, the ACA will forward all donations we receive from individual doctors
by October 1 to Foot Levelers, who has graciously offered to match our funds as
well. Originally, Foot Levelers had
established a deadline of September 24 for matching funds, but has extended the
deadline by one week. It is Foot
Levelers hope that extending the deadline will help tip the final total to
$500,000. ACA has seen an outpouring of
support from members who have offered their assistance during this national
tragedy. We've received phone calls
from hundreds of ACA members who have expressed their desire to either donate
financially or volunteer at one of the disaster sites.
The ACA has encouraged them to support the Red Cross Disaster Relief
funds set up by ACA and Foot Levelers, and we have been working with the New
York State Chiropractic Association to forward the names of doctors interested
in volunteering to Dr. Andrew Lacerenza, who is helping to coordinate efforts at
the disaster site. MORE ON ACA POSITION ON AFFINITY
PROGRAMS BEFORE THE WHITE HOUSE COMMISSION I mentioned in my last report that
we were submitting testimony to the White House Commission regarding the
recommendation that is being discussed which would push for affinity programs in
CAM benefits. We are strongly
opposed to this arrangement. A copy
of our testimony can be found at our Web site: http://www.acatoday.com/government/comments_affinity.html PALMER COLLEGE HOSTS TENTH ANNUAL
CHIRO GAMES SEPTEMBER 20-22: ACA Presence Visible on Campus Hundreds of students from
chiropractic colleges throughout the country converged at Palmer College of
Chiropractic to compete in the 10th Annual Chiro Games from September 20-22,
2001. Students competed for two
days in a variety of events ranging from mountain biking to flag football and
from hockey to soccer in Davenport, IA. Chiropractic
students from both Cleveland campuses (KC and LA), LACC, Life West, Logan,
National, Northwestern, Palmer, Palmer West, and Parker all competed in the
events. New York and Canadian
Memorial had originally planned to make the trip to Iowa, but unfortunately had
to cancel due to the circumstances. Because
of the resolution passed during the ACA's annual meeting in August, all students
who attended the Chiro Games were provided a complimentary ACA water bottle at
registration. The bright red and white bottles could be seen at all of the
events throughout the weekend. Also
in attendance at the games were numerous SACA members, including two of the
newly elected SACA national officers. |
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