[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 42 (Monday, March 12, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E524]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CHIROPRACTIC CARE FOR ALL VETERANS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BOB FILNER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 12, 2007

  Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, since the creation of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs' health care system, the Nation's doctors of 
chiropractic have been, until recently, kept outside and all but 
prevented from providing proven, cost-effective and much-needed care to 
veterans--including many in need of the health care services that 
doctors of chiropractic are licensed to provide.
  A little history: Over the years, representatives of the Department 
of Veterans Affairs have come before the House of Representatives 
Veterans' Affairs Committee and have insisted that chiropractic 
benefits are available to veterans and that no bias exists within the 
VA against the chiropractic profession. Access is becoming greater, and 
hopefully the bills I am introducing will not be necessary, but for all 
practical purposes, access to chiropractic care, until very recently, 
had been non-existent within the VA system. Chiropractic care was so 
seldom offered to veterans that it could have been fairly said to be a 
phantom benefit.
  Because of the track record of neglect, in recent years Congress 
enacted 3 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 gave 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.
  In addition, former VA Secretary Anthony Principi released policy 
directives before his departure regarding the true and full integration 
of chiropractic care within the VA, and it is beginning to happen, 
offered in more than 25 medical centers. But we must remain concerned 
until we see these polices firmly in place and working well in all VA 
treatment facilities.
  As insurance, the enactment of the legislation I propose will 
guarantee the right of a veteran to obtain this important service at 
the local VA without the cost and stumbling blocks of going through 
potentially hostile gatekeepers.
  I am proud to re-introduce a bill that former Congressman Jeb Bradley 
had introduced in the last session of Congress: H.R. 1470, 
the ``Chiropractic Care Available to All Veterans Act,'' and to 
reintroduce my bill from the last session: H.R. 1471, the ``Better 
Access to Chiropractors to Keep Our Veterans Healthy Act (BACK Our 
Veterans Health Act).''

  The first, H.R. 1470, requires that the provision of chiropractic 
services and care be phased in so that it will be provided at not fewer 
than 75 medical centers by December 31, 2009 and at all medical centers 
by December 31, 2011. Within five years, all veterans will have access 
to chiropractic care if and when they need it.
  The second, H.R. 1471, is designed to provide veterans with direct 
access to chiropractic care at VA hospitals and clinics. The measure 
directly prohibits discrimination among licensed health care providers 
by the VA when determining which services a patient needs.
  In developing these bills, 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 also was 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 have been told by the ACA that there 
are more than 60,000 doctors of chiropractic and in excess of 25 
million chiropractic patients across America. Some of these doctors 
certainly should be directly available to our veterans. Finally, I am a 
chiropractic patient myself and have been greatly helped by 
chiropractic care for physical problems caused by an automobile 
accident. I hate to think that veterans do not have this same 
opportunity for relief from pain.
  A large number of all medical problems in the returning soldiers from 
Iraq and Afghanistan--42 percent--are musculoskeletal injuries, which 
are injuries that are often directed to chiropractors. So the timing 
could not be better for passage of these bills.
  Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting unimpeded 
access to chiropractic care throughout the veterans' health care system 
and help enact these measures.

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