The suit now will go before a federal court that will decide whether HCFA must set the same financial parity payments for chiropractors as established for other healthcare providers who do spinal manipulations. The court will also rule on the allegation that managed care associations did not properly allocate portions of their monthly payments from Medicare for covering manual manipulations. In summary, chiropractors are seeking equal status with concomitant professionals in other fields who are reimbursed by Medicare for similar work that is the sine qua non for their field. The ACA contends that physicians in the Medicare program use physical therapists or do the work themselves. Figures indicate that in 1998 about 32.9 million seniors were covered through traditional Medicare and another 6.3 million were enrolled in HMO Medicare plans.
Chiropractors feel it is an attempt to squash their profession.
In 1997, a federal court judge ruled that the American Medical Association had to stop their refusing of referrals to chiropractors. The AMA saw them as an unscientific cult. The goal of the law suit is to force the HFCA to issue new regulations to make it clear that only chiropractors are qualified to deliver chiropractic services and not allow Medicare HMO s to substitute other providers for chiropractors. Chiropractors feel that the type of care they provide is as effective as traditional medicine for certain ailments.