[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 43 (Wednesday, March 31, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E489-E490]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        BACK OUR VETERANS HEALTH

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BOB FILNER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 31, 2004

  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, since the creation of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs (DVA) health system, the Nation's doctors of 
chiropractic (DCs) have been kept outside the system and all but 
prevented from providing proven, cost-effective and much-needed care to 
veterans, including those among the most vulnerable and in need of the 
range of health care services DCs are licensed to provide. In 2002, 4.5 
million patients received care in DVA health facilities, including 75 
percent of all disabled and low-income veterans. Although the DVA 
health care budget is roughly $26 billion, in 2002, less than $370,000 
went toward chiropractic services for veterans.
  I am proud to introduce legislation--H.R. 4051, the Better Access to 
Chiropractors to Keep Our Veterans Healthy Act (BACK Our Veterans 
Health Act)--that is designed to provide veterans with direct access to 
a doctor of chiropractic, if that is their choice, through the veterans 
health care system. In developing this bill, I have worked closely with 
chiropractic patients, particularly our veterans, who know the benefits 
of chiropractic care and bear witness to the positive outcomes and 
preventative health benefits of chiropractic care. I was also pleased 
to work with the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), the Nation's 
largest chiropractic organization and the national voice of doctors of 
chiropractic and their patients. I am told by the ACA that there are 
more than 60,000 doctors of chiropractic and in excess of 25 million 
chiropractic patients across America.
  Specifically, my bill seeks to amend title 38 of the United States 
Code to permit eligible veterans to have direct access to chiropractic 
care at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics. Section 3 
of the measure states that ``The Secretary [of Veterans Affairs] shall 
permit eligible veterans to receive needed [health care] services, 
rehabilitative services, and preventative health services from a 
licensed doctor of chiropractic on a direct access basis at the 
election of the eligible veteran, if such services are within the State 
scope of practice of such doctor of chiropractic.'' The measure goes on 
to directly prohibit discrimination among licensed health care 
providers by the DVA when determining which services a patient needs.
  Over the years, Mr. Speaker, representatives of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs have come before the House Veterans Affairs Committee, 
a panel on which I serve, and have insisted that chiropractic benefits 
are available to veterans and that no bias exists within the DVA 
against the chiropractic profession. But the facts I cited above speak 
otherwise. For all practical purposes, access to chiropractic care has 
been nonexistent within the DVA system. Chiropractic care has so seldom 
been offered to veterans that it can be fairly said to be a phantom 
benefit--and for years, Mr. Speaker, the DVA has done nothing to 
correct this deficiency. There is simply no evidence that the DVA has 
ever acted proactively in any meaningful and substantive way to ensure 
that chiropractic care is made available to veterans--and because of 
that

[[Page E490]]

track record of neglect that the U.S. Congress felt compelled to take 
action. And as a result, Congress in recent years has enacted three 
separate statutes seeking to ensure veterans access to chiropractic 
care--Public Law 106-117, Public Law 107-135 and Public Law 108-170. 
The last of those statutes gives explicit authority to the DVA to hire 
doctors of chiropractic as full-time employees. I'm proud to have 
worked with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to help advance those 
initiatives--and I am hopeful that a reluctant DVA has finally seen the 
light.
  I understand that the VA Secretary Principi has just released some 
new policy directives regarding chiropractic care and that, at last, we 
may be on our way to seeing the true and full integration of 
chiropractic care into the DVA. But Mr. Speaker, if the past is any 
guide to the future, then I must remain concerned until I see these new 
polices firmly in place and working well in all DVA treatment 
facilities. To help ensure that in the future, barriers to veterans who 
want and need chiropractic care are fully removed, I am pleased to 
introduce legislation that would require the DVA to make chiropractic 
care available on a direct access basis to our veterans. If the 
previous legislation had actually been implemented, my legislation 
would not be necessary--because referrals to doctors of chiropractic 
would actually be taking place with the encouragement and support of 
the DVA leadership. I hope this is what happens under Secretary 
Principi's new guidance--but as insurance, Mr. Speaker, in case the 
Department loses their newfound enlightenment somewhere along the way--
perhaps under a less supportive Secretary--then the enactment of the 
legislation I propose would guarantee the right of a veteran to obtain 
this important service without the cost and stumbling blocks of going 
through potentially hostile gatekeepers. Accordingly, I urge my 
colleagues to join me in supporting unimpeded access to chiropractic 
care throughout the veterans health care system and help enact this 
measure.

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