Chiropractic Care Is MORE Than an Oil Change!
SOURCE: A Chiro.Org Editorial
The Jan 25 issue of Newsweek contains an especially insulting article, titled “It’s Not My Fault“, in which the author laments: “And every time massage, acupuncture, or chiropractic care is added to the list of covered treatments, premiums go up. Nobody expects to have car insurance that covers an oil change.”
Well, thanks Mr. Rosenkranz for the wake-up call, what were my patients thinking, expecting insurance to pay for their chiropractic care???
Somehow this “genius” has failed to appreciate several important facts:
Ten years ago health expenditures for chronic back pain were estimated to be $50 billion to $100 billion annually, and studies suggest expenditures have risen exponentially since that time. Epidemiologic studies also indicate an upward trend for back pain in both men and women, a trend that is likely to continue as the average age of the US population continues to increase. [2]
The President of the ACA responded: “The fact is that every year chiropractic care helps millions of patients overcome debilitating pain and injuries, thus returning to work and productivity sooner.
Military men and women and veterans also receive chiropractic care in DOD and VA health care systems and report very high satisfaction levels. For these Americans, chiropractic coverage is essential and much appreciated.”
He goes on to remind the author that: “a 2005 study in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics concludes that the cost of chiropractic and medical care are comparable for treating low-back pain, with chiropractic producing better outcomes for chronic pain. [1]
Additionally, a 2004 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that individuals with chiropractic insurance coverage had lower annual health care expenditures than those without chiropractic coverage. [2]”
Numerous other studies, demonstrating that Chiropractic Care actually reduces overall medical expenses are archived at our Cost-Effectiveness of Chiropractic Page Our Low Back Pain and Chiropractic Page is also loaded with studies that demonstrate that chiropractic can reduce medical expenses while attaining superior results!
The Editor of Newsweek should be ashamed for publishing this un-referenced, biased and incorrect opinion piece, but I guess the old maxim that “controversy sells” must have been too much to resist, since the Internet continues to devastate publishing profits.
REFERENCES:
- Cost-effectiveness of Medical and Chiropractic Care for Acute and Chronic Low Back Pain
J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2005 (Oct); 28 (8): 555–563 - Comparative Analysis of Individuals With and Without Chiropractic Coverage: Patient Characteristics, Utilization, and Costs
Arch Intern Med 2004 (Oct 11); 164 (18): 1985–1892 ~ FULL TEXT
Great info for patients that I will print.
Thank You
Strangely, many auto insurance salesmen have spammed this page’s comments section, hoping to get their websites listed at a new location…hehehe.
I guess the search engines must be doing their job, for those folks to find us so easily!
Opinion journalism is not journalism and is the main reason Newsweek recently sold for $1. Its uslessness now rivals screen doors on a submarine. It is just about that effective in presenting actual “news”.