Chiropractic Care Available to All Veterans Act

Floor Speech

CHIROPRACTIC CARE AVAILABLE TO ALL VETERANS ACT -- (House of Representatives - May 23, 2007)

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Mr. MORAN of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, there are thousands of veterans across this country who could benefit from additional medical care and treatment, and chiropractic care is one form of that care and treatment that we believe can be expanded to meet the health care needs of our Nation's veterans.

It's an honor for me to be here today, just a few days in advance of Memorial Day, in support of legislation that I believe will benefit those veterans.

Mr. Speaker, in the year 2002, I joined my colleagues in an effort to see that chiropractic care became a significant component of the VA health care delivery system, and we have made progress in that regard. And that program has been implemented, but as the chairman indicated, as the gentleman from California indicated, it's only available in a small number of hospitals across the country.

This legislation takes what was a very good idea in 2002 and 2003 and expands it to make certain that, over time, all veterans in this country can access chiropractic care.

A recent VA study indicates that the demand for attention to back pain is only increasing, and we know that chiropractic care can address those issues. Numerous studies have demonstrated that chiropractic care is an effective therapy and would be an effective approach to low back pain, spasms, and other maladies suffered by not only all Americans but by our veterans in particular.

And so, Mr. Speaker, this is a piece of legislation that I think will benefit all veterans across the country, widely supported by those veterans service organizations who speak here in our Nation's Capitol on behalf of veterans. The Disabled American Veterans, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Vietnam Veterans of America, AMVETS, and the Paralyzed Veterans of America all speak in favor of passage H.R. 1470.

Mr. Speaker, I come from a congressional district in which access to health care is a huge issue for all of my citizens. Long distances to travel, attraction of health care providers to rural communities is a challenging task and the more we can expand the number of providers, the type of care that can be provided, the more likely it is that veterans who live in my district and rural America will have access to that care.

So, Mr. Speaker, I'm here on behalf of the veterans of America. I'm here on behalf of members of the Veterans' Affairs Committee to urge my colleagues to approve H.R. 1470, the Chiropractic Care Available to All Veterans Act.

I thank the gentleman from California for his encouragement of the passage of this legislation.

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