March 2003
Letters
Special note: The World Chiropractic
Alliance
often receives letters asking about the organization, or current issues
affecting the profession. We think the answers may be of interest to many
other doctors as well, and are reprinting them here. Since it is not our
intention to embarrass the letter writer, we are withholding their names.
Who cares about the V.A.?
I'm writing to ask you a question
regarding all this concern over the veterans stuff in every journal...
Everyone's primary question is, "Who cares?" Most of our
practices consist of families in their early forties and younger. Veterans
are typically in the 50-70 year old age bracket and could care less about
any type of wellness care or subluxations. As far as insurance
reimbursement and having the correct verbiage in legislation to get paid,
it doesn't happen.
I can't tell you how many chiros call
me and ask about how we run our cash only practice. One of my dearest
friends does $500,000 in services, gets reimbursed about $280,000,then
after taxes and overhead, brings home $40,000 a year. This is
typical! For everyone practicing today, we need all organizations to put
money into public education, not some legislation that won't trickle down
to us years later -- if ever.
World Chiropractic
Alliance
response:
I can understand completely how you and
some of your colleagues might feel about the V.A. situation, but the fact
is, getting this legislation passed was far more important than is obvious
at first glance.
Yes, being able to serve our nation's
veterans is vital in itself. These people need chiropractic care and
deserve to have access to it, particularly for the correction of
subluxations. Keep in mind, too, that most of them have families who may
be introduced to chiropractic through them and will turn into patients for
"outside" doctors of chiropractic as well.
But the ramifications of this
legislation go far beyond the patients who are in the V.A. hospitals. When
Medicare finally covered chiropractic, and specified subluxation care, it
was a huge boost to the entire profession because it put the weight of the
federal government behind us. How many times did we "prove" the
credibility and acceptability of chiropractic by noting that it was
recognized by Medicare?
The V.A. bill was the first pickle out
of the jar. Once we got it out, we knew the rest would come more easily.
Now that we have a law in place, passed by both houses of Congress,
recognizing the right of people to have access to chiropractic care
without a medical gatekeeper, and that care is NOT limited to back pain
but covers subluxation correction as well, we can continue to build on
that foundation to achieve other legislative victories.
I realize that, particularly in today's
difficult economic times, it's hard for some doctors to see past this
week's revenue or next month's bills. But the WCA has to look years into
the future. We want to do everything we can to help doctors today (which
is why we work hard to find ways to help them bring in new patients,
retain existing patients, and boost their income). But in addition to
these short term goals, we are working for a time when they won't have to
be paid $280,000 for $500,000 in services or be left with $40,000 in
income!
You specifically mention research. That
is one of our major objectives and we are trying hard to find and win
government and private research grants, but the fact is, unless we gain
more acceptance in
Washington
we
cannot break the medical lock on those grants. And the only way we can
gain that acceptance is by taking the preliminary steps as we have with
the V.A. bill.
This is also why it's so important for
you and your colleagues to support the WCA efforts to win passage of House
Concurrent Resolution 46. This will help us leapfrog past many of the
smaller steps by establishing chiropractic as a legitimate and safe health
care form and specifically noting that chiropractors are the only provider
able to offer adjustments to correct subluxations. Although the resolution
is not a "law" as such, it is a powerful statement which we can
use to advance our other goals. (If you're not familiar with HCR #46,
please read the information on our website, http://www.worldchiropracticalliance.org/resolution/resolution-info.htm)
You mention that chiropractors aren't
joining organizations because the organizations aren't fighting for or
supporting their practices. I submit to you that the World Chiropractic
Alliance is doing just that, but we are limited in what we can do because
of lack of commitment and support by doctors. They say they want research
but don't bother to even subscribe to the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation
Research. They say they want public education but don't seem to understand
how expensive magazine and newspaper ads can be. The truth is, too many of
them want the organizations to do battle for them, while they stand back
and profit from our work.
I hope your colleagues come to realize
that a chiropractic organization is only as strong as the doctors who
support it. I hope they'll follow your example by joining the World
Chiropractic Alliance so we can eventually accomplish the goals we all
share.
Terry A. Rondberg, D.C., President,
World Chiropractic
Alliance
What's in it for me?
I am not a member but in my search of
your web site I find NO reference to change Medicare reimbursements. The
baby boomers are soon going to be the majority in population. With this I
would think that you would be interested in protecting your/our incomes.
I am in Medicare community. I find that
there is nothing in my budget for Chiropractic Organizations, especially
if they do nothing for me.
The World Chiropractic
Alliance
response:
I'm amazed to hear you say the only
thing you want out of a group is help getting Medicare reimbursements. The
WCA is involved in dozens of political efforts to make sure chiropractic
is accepted in all government and private insurance programs. In addition,
we help doctors who want to break their dependence on the third party
payor system, since many experts believe that Medicare and government
programs will be scaled back in the future.
The Chiropractic Journal runs frequent
columns by Dr. Jeffrey Shay on Medicare and other insurance issues, and we
have reported on Medicare issues many times (enter the keyword
"Medicare" into the Journal search engine and you'll get 137
hits!).
In addition, one of our key legislative
contacts in
Washington
is
Rep. Donald Manzullo, who has been holding the hearings about Medicare
reform (see the article at: www.worldchiropracticalliance.org/tcj/2001/sep/sep2001o.htm.)
He usually attends the WCA
International Summit, so if you're really interested in this issue, I
suggest you attend the
Summit
and speak with him directly.
But all this is actually beside the
point. If your only real concern is "what's in it for me," you
probably won't make a good WCA member anyway. Our members love the
profession, and work to safeguard it for their patients and their
colleagues. They are concerned with all things that affect chiropractic,
not just how much Medicare is going to reimburse them.
If I misinterpreted your note, and you
are indeed committed to something bigger than your Medicare income, I
invite you to join us. Remember the saying: "do what you love and the
money will follow." Our members know that by making chiropractic more
accepted by the public, protected by the laws, and fairly treated by the
insurance industry, we are helping them have more prosperous practices.
Terry A. Rondberg, D.C., President,
World Chiropractic
Alliance
And then there's this note:
"I
joined the WCA to make a difference. To put energy into an organization
that stands for strong traditional chiropractic principles. The WCA is one
of the few groups that has very strong chiropractic principles from top to
bottom. They walk the talk!" -- Perry J. Numedahl,
Decorah
,
Iowa
