The World Chiropractic Alliance has submitted testimony for a hearing on chiropractic services in the Veterans Administration as part of its continuing effort to prevent Congress from defining chiropractic as a neuromusculoskeletal treatment. The testimony was submitted to the House Committee on Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health.

The bill undergoing scrutiny is HR 5909. Several portions are widely supported by the chiropractic community, including subluxation-based doctors. However, the bill also notes that the VA plan for chiropractic shall include "care for neuromusculoskeletal conditions typical of those affecting all age groups within the eligible veterans population..."

Because of this classification of chiropractic as a treatment for neuromusculoskeletal conditions, the World Chiropractic Alliance spearheaded a national grassroots effort to remove that wording and safeguard the right of patients to obtain subluxation-correction care from doctors of chiropractic.

In its written testimony, the WCA made clear that it supported direct access to chiropractic within the VA system and was concerned only about the definition of chiropractic as presented in the current bill. The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) has lobbied hard for the bill with the reference to "neuromusculoskeletal conditions."

On February 24, 2000, WCA representatives met with officials of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to assist in the development of its chiropractic utilization policy. At that time, the WCA submitted a "White Paper Report" on chiropractic in the VHA.

Also attending the meeting were representatives from the ACA, ICA and ACC. WCA leaders pledged to work with the other groups to develop a proposal which would encompass all chiropractors and which could have been unanimously supported by all major organizations.

Instead of working with the WCA and ICA, the ACA attempted to unilaterally develop and lobby for the language in the House bill and was met with fierce opposition by the WCA and, later, by the ICA.

If the ACA had not tried to monopolize the legislative process by excluding the WCA and ICA, it might have been possible to arrive at language which would have been accepted by nearly all doctors of chiropractic, and probably passed into law without opposition. "The ACA has risked shutting chiropractors out of the VA system entirely because of their unwillingness to include the WCA and ICA," stated Dr. Terry A. Rondberg, WCA president. "In the future, I hope they will act more responsibly."