I received this message on Facebook last week and thought I should post here as well.
WHAT IF YOU HAD TO FOLLOW MEDICARE RULES AND LIMITATIONS FOR EVERY PATIENT YOU SEE?
Dear ICA Colleague:
This letter is an urgent appeal for your financial support TODAY for ICA’s Political Action Committee (ICA-PAC). Our goal is to quickly raise an additional $100,000 to apply in the urgent struggle over national health care reform! ICA-PAC is fighting for your freedoms and those of your patients in this legislation, mobilizing like never before. The issues are not just chiropractic coverage or inclusion; the issues include your right to see patients directly and your right to conduct a private, patient-pay practice, without government interference or limitations. Yes, this is a serious concern. Many sections of the legislation already passed by the various committees of the US House of Representatives make reference to using the Medicare model as a basis for a “reformed” health care system!
What if all of your cash patients were managed the same way as your Medicare patients are today?
* The government would set rates
* The government would audit your records
* The government would do post pay audits and could request refunds on all of your patients
* YOU WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO OPT OUT!Members of ICA’s Legislative Team have asked legislators and the key staff members of all Congressional committees working on health care reform two profound questions:
“Is there anything in the legislation that would prohibit, limit or penalize any consumer from taking their own money and going to any health care professional and purchasing any service they feel they need, without any government interference?
Of equal importance to us:
“Is there anything in this legislation that would prohibit, limit or penalize any provider from providing that service?”
We could not get a straight answer from anyone to either of these questions!
The point is: Just because you practice in a “cash” model today does not mean you are immune to the potential impact of health care reform legislation! All they need to do is apply the current Medicare model for “cash patients” to ALL of your patients. It could happen and the implications should be obvious and alarming.
ICA-PAC and chiropractic need your help today to ensure that the political messages of chiropractic rights and patient freedom are delivered with credibility and power NOW! ICA-PAC needs your help to continue to build the strongest possible grass-roots base to support these rights and the resources to continue educating legislators and the Administration on how chiropractic can and should contribute to solving the nation’s urgent health care crisis.
IF HEALTH REFORM LEGISLATION DOES NOT GUARANTEE YOUR RIGHTS AND THOSE OF YOUR PATIENTS, THEN ICA-PAC WILL OPPOSE ITS FINAL PASSAGE!
ICA was founded more than eighty years ago by Dr. B.J. Palmer as THE voice and action arm for chiropractic. In that vital role, ICA-PAC fights every day to preserve your practice freedoms and patients’ rights. Through your ongoing support we have been able to:
* Engage with law makers to safeguard the rights of chiropractors and their patients.
* Develop the profession’s first on-line patient mobilization data base whereby you can enroll your patients as part of a national grass-roots lobbying effort.
* Work to secure military commissions for doctors of chiropractic as career officers in the US Armed Forces.
* Aggressively promote legislation that would secure direct access for military personnel to chiropractic services, without referral by an MD.
* Stand in determined opposition to the physical therapists who have introduced bills in dozens of state legislatures seeking authority to do what you do, adjust the spine, on a direct access basis, WITH NO ADDITIONAL EDUCATION!ICA is fighting those fights in partnership with our members and allied state associations. AND, WE ARE MAKING THE VITAL DIFFERENCE! Now, in the face of national healthcare reform, we must pull out all the stops. We are working with other organizations through the Chiropractic Summit, we have redoubled our Washington, DC efforts and we are making powerful use of ICA’s www.AdjustTheVote.org which has already brought more than 15,000 DCs and patients into the grass-roots effort. But, we need your financial help NOW! This is in addition to what you may already give in conjunction with your dues payments and participation in the ICA-PAC Lunch Club.
You can download the reply form here and we ask that you respond today with a generous donation.
* You can use a credit card and FAX it to ICA at 703-528-5023, or
* telephone in your donation to 1-800-423-4690.
* You can mail your check made payable to ICA-PAC to the ICA headquarters at 1110 North Glebe Road, Suite 650, Arlington, VA 22201.
* You can also make a contribution on-line through the secure donation link at: http://chiropracticdotorg.webs.com/ICA-PAC%20Reply%20Form.pdfPlease, be a part of the solution by supporting ICA-PAC today.
Thank you for your commitment to chiropractic and your participation in ICA and ICA-PAC.
Yours in Chiropractic,
James E. Musick, DC, FICA
ICA-PAC Chair
Michael S. McLean, DC, FICA
ICA-PAC Co-Chair
Stephen P. Welsh, DC, FICA
ICA-PAC Treasurer
Gary L. Walsemann, DC, FICA
ICA President
