[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 42 (Tuesday, April 12, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E624-E625]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     BACK OUR VETERANS' HEALTH ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BOB FILNER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 12, 2005

  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, and colleagues, since the creation of the 
Department of Veterans Affairs health care system, the Nation's

[[Page E625]]

doctors of chiropractic have been kept outside 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 
the health care services that doctors of chiropractic are licensed to 
provide. In 2002, 4.5 million patients received care in VA health 
facilities, including 75 percent of all disabled and low-income 
veterans. Although the VA health care budget was roughly $26 billion in 
2002, less than $370,000 went toward chiropractic services for 
veterans. This, in a country with more than 25 million chiropractic 
patients and more than 60,000 Doctors of Chiropractic.
  I am proud to introduce legislation--H.R. 917, 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.
  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 VA 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 VA 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 VA against 
the chiropractic profession. But the facts I cited above speak 
otherwise. For all practical purposes, access to chiropractic care has 
been non-existent within the VA 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 VA has done nothing to correct 
this deficiency. There is simply no evidence that the VA has ever acted 
proactively in any meaningful and substantive way to ensure that 
chiropractic care is made available to veterans--and because of that 
track record of neglect, the U.S. Congress felt compelled to take 
action.

  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 VA 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 VA has finally seen the 
light.
  I understand that, last year, former VA Secretary Principi released 
new policy directives regarding chiropractic care and that we may be on 
our way to seeing the true and full integration of chiropractic care 
into the VA. 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 VA 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 VA to make chiropractic care 
available on a direct access basis to our veterans.
  Perhaps my legislation will prove not to be necessary--because 
referrals to doctors of chiropractic will actually take place with the 
encouragement and support of the leadership of the VA. But as 
insurance, 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, H.R. 917.

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