The following is an email that I and many others received from Dr. B.J. Patzer in Austin, TX earlier this week.
Hello Friends,
Well I never liked politics, so I randomly have been a member of the ICA and TCA, but this year a “so-called” friend RJ Kelly, DC nominated me to be the TX Representative for the ICA. Reluctantly , I accepted with the help of hearing a mentor Reggie Gold years ago saying “If your going to complain about the politics, then quit complaining and get involved and change something.” And WHOA, I guess I’m glad I did. WE AS A PROFESSION ARE IN A PICKLE.
The 1st day was the SUMMIT, a collaboration of all our professions organizations. Interesting to see these all collaborating on common grounds. BUT, the thing that stuck out that day , was when Congressman Manzullo, (ILL), spoke and said, “Well I have an appointment with my Chiropractor at 11am, and my family goes. You guys need to know something, NATIONAL HEALTH CARE IS A DONE DEAL, AND I DON’T KNOW IF YOU GUYS ARE IN IT, OR HOW YOU’RE IN IT. SO GET IT TOGETHER AND START CALLING ON THE CONGRESSMEN THAT MAY NOT KNOW WHAT THE HECK YOU GUYS DO.” (paraphrased of course) He said , how many of you have met A congressman? Ask them to come to your office, that you have a 100 constituents for him to speak to in 15 minutes, show them your office.
At first I thought, we’d be better off not in it. But as the day unfolded with what if’s the implications of if we are not could be huge. Such as losing physician status, where we like the PT’s need a physician referral to get to us. SO AS MUCH AS I HAVE FOUGHT JOINING ALL THE ASSOCIATIONS, ITS TIME I DID AND YOU DID TO FIGHT THIS FIGHT. JOIN YOUR STATE ASSOCIATION , JOIN YOUR NATIONAL AND OR INTERNATIONAL TO. THEY NEED RESOURCES TO HELP FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHTS AND PATIENTS RIGHT TO ACCESS US.
The ICA developed a REAL simple (I could actually do it and did it in 5 minutes) way for us to communicate to our congressman of our district. You sign up on www.AdjustTheVote.org And we can have our patients do it too. Once your set up, future correspondence with your congressmen only takes 1-2 minutes with pre-typed letters already in there. THANKS ICA. But this isn’t meant for only ICA, this is for anyone and everyone to use. They said sending letters and faxes are more effective than emails. I hope our TCA adopts this and presents this at the June Conference.
Right NOW we need to bombard our state and national congressman on 4 key areas on Chiropractic to help preserve your access to our profession. They need to hear from you, their voters, on how you and your patients have gotten help and health. The 4 areas are:
1. National Heathcare Reform – In this age of profound crisis in national health care, to stand on the sidelines is to accept defeat. ICA is calling on all who are committed to a strong future for chiropractic to take action, go on-line today and sign up as a new Adjust The Vote participant (www.AdjustTheVote.org) volunteer as a congressional district director, and to dedicate the coming days to making sure everyone you know does the same, since in numbers there is political power for chiropractic.
2. National Healthcare Reform – Obama is clever, and he is seeking direct input from the public. So he wants you and you patients to go to www.healthreform.gov and tell your problems, issues, stories, testimonials, anything related to reform. GET YOUR PATIENTS involved.
3. HR 1017 Chiropractic Car to all Veterans — Urge the members of the Senate and House committees on Veterans Affairs to enact legislation to extend the VA’s chiropractic care program to all VA major medical facilities. Specifically, House VA Committee Chairman Bob Filner has introduced HR 1017, the “Chiropractic Care Available to All Veterans Act,” which aims to expand the number of chiropractic physicians at major VA medical centers.
4. HR 484 Chiropractic TRICARE Bill – expanding benefits to all retirees, dependents, and survivor beneficiaries — In the 111th Congress, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, introduced HR 484, legislation to provide TRICARE recipients with a benefit that is now available to many in the private sector. A united chiropractic profession urges all members of congress to: Enact the Rogers TRICARE expansion legislation, which is strongly supported by all chiropractic organizations in the nation. Contact Rep. Mike Rogers’ office at 202-225-3261 and 1) offer to co-sponsor his Chiropractic TRICARE bill, HR 484; 2) contact their colleagues on the House Armed services Committee and urge that the Rogers Chiropractic TRICARE bill be incorporated into the FY 2010 Defense Authorization Act.
ACT NOW, THEY SAID HEALTH CARE REFORM WILL BE DONE, CLOSED, OVER BY SEPTEMBER. Join you associations, JOIN THE ICA. Send letters, faxes, GET YOUR PATIENTS to send.
UNITED WE STAND FOR CHIROPRACTIC,
BJ
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