Patients’ Rights to Integrative Medicine

A battle inside Congress and the Executive branch over the right of patients to choose care from the types of practitioners they prefer is erupting inside the Beltway.

At stake is the meaning and potential revocation of ”non-discrimination in health care,”Section 2706 of the Affordable Care Act. The requirement is due to become law in January 2014.

Congress and the Executive, in the form of the US Health and Human Services, are sparring over congressional intent. Now seven medical specialties have backed H.R. 2817 to entirely gut the non-discrimination section.

A key dimension to Section 2706 is patient access to covered services from licensed doctors of chiropractic, practitioners of acupuncture and Oriental medicine, naturopathic physicians, massage therapists, and to home births via non-nurse, certified professional midwives.

The potential for medical doctors to offer integrative medicine and health strategies in which a patient has access to covered services of licensed integrative health practitioners is also on the line.

U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the key sponsor of the non-discrimination section, was urged to include this language by the Integrative Healthcare Policy Consortium (IHPC) and the American Chiropractic Association. Each represents integrative health professions typically red-lined out of appropriate insurance coverage.

Beltway Battle Over Patients’ Rights to Integrative Medicine and Health – By John Weeks

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