[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 100 (Thursday, July 23, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8880-S8881]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           PATIENT ACCESS TO ACUPUNCTURE SERVICES ACT OF 1998

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I wanted to make a few comments on a bill 
that Senator Mikulski and I introduced just yesterday. The bill number 
is S. 2340. It is called the Patient Access to Acupuncture Services Act 
of 1998. It will provide limited coverage for acupuncture under 
Medicare and under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. It is 
an important bill that reflects an appropriate and needed response to 
both progress in science and to the demand for complementary and 
alternative treatments for pain and illness.
  I acknowledge Senator Mikulski's strong support for the bill and for 
cosponsoring the bill. She has been a strong supporter of effective 
alternative therapies and has long realized and appreciated the 
importance and significance of such therapies to our health care 
system.
  Mr. President, approximately 90 million Americans suffer from chronic 
illnesses, which, each year, cost society roughly $659 billion in 
health care expenditures, lost productivity and premature death. 
Despite the high costs of this care, studies published in the Journal 
of the American Medical Association reveal that the health care 
delivery system is not meeting the needs of the chronically ill in the 
United States.
  Many of these Americans are looking desperately for effective, less 
costly alternatives therapies to relieve the debilitating pain they 
suffer. In 1990 alone, Americans spent nearly $14 billion out-of-pocket 
on alternative therapies. Harvard University researchers have found 
that fully one-third of Americans regularly use complementary and 
alternative medicine,

[[Page S8881]]

making an estimated 425 million visits to complementary and alternative 
practitioners of these therapies--surpassing those made to conventional 
primary care practitioners!
  And with good reason. Last November, a consensus conference of the 
National Institutes of Health approved the use of acupuncture in 
standard U.S. medical care. It was the first time that the NIH had 
endorsed as effective a major alternative therapy, and it was just the 
type of medical breakthrough that I had hoped for and envisioned when I 
worked to establish the Office of Alternative Medicine at NIH.
  The NIH experts cited data showing that acupuncture can effectively 
relieve certain conditions, such as nausea, vomiting and pain, and 
shows promise in treating chronic conditions such as lower back pain, 
substance addictions, osteoarthritis and asthma.
  In 1993, the FDA reported that Americans spent $500 million for up to 
12 million acupuncture visits. In 1996, after reviewing the science, 
the FDA removed acupuncture needles from the category of ``experimental 
medical devices'' and now regulates them just as it does other devices, 
such as surgical scalpels and hypodermic syringes. Acupuncture is 
effectively used by practitioners around the world. The World Health 
Organization has approved its use to treat a variety of medical 
conditions, including pulmonary problems and rehabilitation from 
neurological damage.
  It has been reported that more than 1 million Americans currently 
receive acupuncture each year. Access to qualified acupuncture 
professionals for appropriate conditions should be ensured. Including 
this important therapy under Medicare and FEHBP coverage will promote a 
progressive health system that integrates treatment from both 
acupuncturists and physicians. and in many cases we see more and more 
where physicians are acupuncturists. It will expand patient care 
options. I also believe it will reduce health care costs because of the 
relatively low cost of acupuncture compared to conventional pain 
management therapies.

  Research is still needed to demonstrate the effectiveness of other 
alternative therapies. This research is vitally important, but we must 
act now to help the millions of Americans who can benefit from the 
knowledge we have already gained.
  The 21st century is just around the corner. Less than 50 years ago, 
treatments that are now considered conventional--organ transplants, 
nitroglycerin for heart patients, immunology, and x-ray and laser 
technology--were decried as quackery by the medical establishment. 
Everyday we face new biological and emotional challenges for which 
modern Western medicine has no remedy. Now science is revealing the 
effectiveness of many complementary and alternative treatments, 
including acupuncture, which I might point out is not a new treatment 
but, indeed, has been practiced in China for the last 2,000 to 3,000 
years, and, increasingly, more Americans are choosing these alternative 
therapies to manage their health and to treat the illness.

  Let us listen to the science, and heed the urgent need for progress. 
Mr. President, the nation's leading scientists have demonstrated the 
safety and effectiveness of acupuncture as a treatment for a wide range 
of pain and illness. It makes common sense that Medicare and FEHBP 
cover this legitimate course of therapy.
  I invite other Senators as cosponsors. Hopefully, we can get the bill 
passed during this session.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. KENNEDY addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.

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