I See the Truth and Shake My Head
Dear Editor:
I just spoke to a Calif. truck driver who bragged about getting his DOT exam for only $40! I am a certified FMCSA medical examiner and I do these exams cheap for $100, not $40. I hear of clinics treating patients for $20 an office visit as well.
The Affordable Care Act demands that all people have insurance. Sooner or later, as in Canada and England, this will kill the profession. You may not believe it now, but it will come. My father was a multimillionaire and died this year at the age of 90. He stated, “I have insurance and I want to use it. I pay for it.”
Do you actually think this profession will survive in this time and age on cash patients only? Those who have a cash business will see it dwindle as the demand for insurance coverage by the government increases. After all, I want to use my coverage as well. Don't you? Of course you do. Everyone does.
It is time to stop being D.D. Palmer / 1800s doctors and move into the educated, Internet Age. People are not uneducated as they were 50 to 100 years ago. They do their research. As we speak, PTs and massage therapists are being paid more for their services than most DCs; yet we still want to give it away. We can no longer afford to do so, with overhead increasing and little to no funds to fight for our protection under the law.
After 30 years of practice, I see the truth and I shake my head at the morons in our field.
Ronald C. Clark, DC
Oakwood, Ga.
Why Infringe on the Practices of MDs and DOs?
Dear Editor:
I am a chiropractor in Port St. Lucie, Fla., and have been practicing since 1982. By definition, chiropractic is a drugless healing profession. The discussion about having prescriptive rights should not even exist. Prescriptive rights are for licensed MD / DO physicians (and others).
Any chiropractor interested in these rights is free to return to school for an additional degree and another license. This seems to be a very simple solution. Why change chiropractic when you can change yourself?
In addition, if a medical doctor wants to better serve his/her patients by giving chiropractic adjustments, then he/she can return to school to gain a DC degree and practice both medicine and chiropractic. Our patients come for chiropractic because it is unique. They know where to go for a prescription. I believe most chiropractors who understand their profession do not want other health care professionals adding chiropractic adjustments to their repertoire. Why should we infringe on the practices of MDs and DOs?
Our patients should be taught to appreciate the differences between health care providers, and we will attract the ones who want drug-free care. When necessary, we will always refer to the necessary specialist.
Gary Oxman, DC
Port St. Lucie, Fla.
I Believe in the Body's Ability to Heal Itself
Dear Editor:
Thank God, seriously, that we still have doctors of chiropracTIC who know how to adjust and watch their patients' bodies heal without any interference including drugs. If I wanted to prescribe drugs, I would have chosen a different profession!
We need to educate, not cave, and we need to take back our right to teach, be tested and licensed because we can adjust. The sad truth is, so much legislation has hindered our schools' ability to actually teach chiropracTIC. This has to be frustrating to those who can't. I believe their failure to be good at technique has forced them to the alternatives; which in my mind is pharmaceuticals.
I don't believe in what they do. I believe in the body's unique, unable-to-be-duplicated ability to heal itself.
Debra Pavlovic, DC
Valdosta, Ga.
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