1793 Insurance Survey Shows Chiropractic's Cost Effectiveness
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Dynamic Chiropractic – January 1, 1994, Vol. 12, Issue 01

Insurance Survey Shows Chiropractic's Cost Effectiveness

By Editorial Staff
Rusty Word, lobbyist for the Texas Chiropractic Association (TCA), came across a "1991 Group Insurance Survey Report" from the Texas Department of Insurance that shows the costs of mandated health provider benefits.

The Texas Department of Insurance asked 32 companies (representing 72 percent of all health care premiums sold in Texas in 1990) to take part in the questionnaire survey.

As the table below indicates, 14 of the insurance companies responded that some $24 million was paid in chiropractic claims in 1990, representing only 0.9 percent of all medical claims paid by Texas insurers.

The mandated benefits accounted for only 3.27 percent of all health claims. In 1990, insurance companies collected $4.5 billion in premiums.

Craig Benton, DC, of the TCA, noted chiropractic's cost effectiveness: With approximately five percent of the population using chiropractic, chiropractic accounted for less than one percent of the total health care cost in Texas.

The TCA is using this information in its lobbying efforts of Texas legislators regarding national health care reform. If any state association would like a copy of this report, contact the Texas Department of Insurance, Public Information Office: 1-800-252-3439.

 

Table 40 -- Mandated Practitioner Benefit Cost Reported by Insurance Companies

A. Practitioner

Podiatrist
Psychologist
Optometrist
Chiropractor
Audiologist
Dentist
Dietician
Social Worker
Speech-Language Pathologist
Licensed Professional Counselor

B. Claim costs for services provided by practitioner

$ 8,658,546
$ 22,735,139

 $ 846,648 $ 24,137,681 $ 217,835 $ 25,912,662 $ 324,793 $ 2,014,744 $ 200,513 $ 851,011
C. Total of all medical claims paid

$ 2,254,500,736
$ 2,536,879,721
$ 2,185,438,194
$ 2,556,972,302
$ 1,628,734,488
$ 2,536,879,721

 $ 167,455,946 $ 2,234,408,155 $ 2,025,607,620 $ 1,726,701,021
D. Mandated benefit claims as a % of all claims paid

0.3
0.8
0.03
0.9
0.01
1.0
0.1
0.09
> 0.00
0.04

E. Number of companies responding

13
13
10
14
6
13
3
12
5
8

 

College Happenings

Cleveland-KC Student Attends Student Conference

John Nab, a trimester-nine student at CCCKC, joined students from 19 other chiropractic colleges at the 14th annual World Congress of Chiropractic Students (WCCS) conference Oct. 4-8 in St. Louis, Missouri.

One important topic discussed and passed was a letter to all the state boards requesting any student who passes the national board exam be eligible for any state board they desire.

John Nab said the WCCS' objectives "center around the ability to work toward unity within the chiropractic profession."

Speakers at the conference included ACA President John Pammer; ICA Vice President Gary Street; Logan President George Goodman; Beatrice Hagan, Logan's past president; and David Chapman-Smith, secretary-general of the World Federation of Chiropractic.

The 1994 WCCS conference will be sponsored by the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic.

 

TCC Director to Speak to Health Professions' Group

Director of Admissions Robert Cooper will speak on chiropractic at the Feb. 18th meeting of the Texas Association of Advisors for the Health Professions (TAAHP) in Lubbock.

Mr. Cooper and Karen Ferraro, DC, addressed the association at the 1993 meeting, officially bringing chiropractic to the TAAHP for the first time in their 25-year history. Mr. Cooper collaborated on the TAAHP's handbook section on chiropractic.

Mr. Cooper will also again coordinate a chiropractic presentation for biomedical sciences students this year in April at Texas A & M University. At last April's presentation, Mr. Cooper, and DCs Elliott, Schultea, and McKechnie addressed nearly 500 students.

 

Vive La Difference

A recent survey of foreign students at TCC revealed that of the 442 enrolled students, 124 (28 percent) are foreign born. Students born in Vietnam (44) top the list, with Iran (18), Nigeria (7) and Mexico (6) following. Korea, Columbia, and Puerto Rico each have five representatives. There are three students from Hong Kong, and two each from Venezuela, Canada, Italy, Poland, and Russia.

There is also one foreign student from each of the following countries: Chile, Panama, Cuba, Jamaica Trinidad, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Greece, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Ethiopia, Japan, China, Laos, the Philippines, and Australia.

An unrelated statistic: 150 of the TCC students are married (34 percent).

 

Andrei Pikalov, MD

CCCKC Research Fellow Wins Poster Presentation

Dr. Andrei Pikalov was awarded $500 by the Consortium for Chiropractic Research for his poster presentation, "Manipulative Therapy in the Treatment of Duodenal Ulcer."

CCCKC President Carl Cleveland III said the involvement of scientists such as Dr. Pikalov is a "step towards understanding chiropractic's roll beyond treatment of low back pain."

 

Parker Alumna Wins Praise

Sally Lett, DC, (nee Farney), a 1987 Parker graduate active in changing the stereotype of health care as a men's only club, was characterized as an outstanding chiropractor in the Kalamazoo, Michigan area, according to an article in the Kalamozoo Gazette.

Dr. Lett, who champions "competency above gender," entered health care as an RN. Her move to chiropractic was influenced by the benefit she experienced under chiropractic, and the relief she witnessed in her brother from the effects of polio under chiropractic care.

Dynamic Chiropractic editorial staff members research, investigate and write articles for the publication on an ongoing basis. To contact the Editorial Department or submit an article of your own for consideration, email .

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