Will 2011 be the year Congress passes (and the president signs) legislation requiring that all Veterans Administration (VA) health care facilities have at least one doctor of chiropractic on staff? If this is the year, it will end a frustrating annual trend that has lasted nearly 10 years: introduce legislation, get excited about its potential passage, then see Congress take its winter recess without voting on it, leaving millions of needy veterans without chiropractic care for yet another year.
"Our nation's veterans and active-duty military, along with their family members, have sacrificed so much for our country. They deserve the best health care available, and that includes chiropractic care," said Rick McMichael, DC, president of the ACA. "It makes me proud to see the chiropractic profession working with our congressional allies in support of this important legislation." The ACA and the Association of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC) have both expressed their support for the new legislation.
H.R. 329 (the full text of which is available online at http://thomas.loc.gov, where you can also track the bill's progress through Congress) is essentially the same legislation introduced in previous years except the implementation dates have been adjusted accordingly. Last year, the pro-chiropractic legislation - also introduced by Rep. Filner, a perennial chiropractic advocate in Congress - made some of its best progress, with the House of Representatives actually passing H.R. 1017 on May 24, 2010. The Senate, however, failed to vote on the bill and the legislation effectively "died" when the congressional session ended last year.
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