I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 539
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide Medicare coverage
for all physicians’ services furnished by doctors of chiropractic within
the scope of their license, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY16, 2025
Mr. S
TEUBE(for himself, Mr. LARSONof Connecticut, Mr. SMITHof Ne-
braska, Mr. B
OYLEof Pennsylvania, Ms. VANDUYNE, and Mr. DAVIS
of North Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Com-
mittee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide
Medicare coverage for all physicians’ services furnished
by doctors of chiropractic within the scope of their li-
cense, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Chiropractic Medicare 4
Coverage Modernization Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS; STATEMENT OF PURPOSE. 1
(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 2
(1) In 1972, coverage was established under the 3
Medicare program for beneficiaries to receive chiro-4
practic care. 5
(2) Unfortunately, the antiquated statute re-6
stricts beneficiaries to one service in a chiropractic 7
clinic and Medicare chiropractic coverage has not 8
kept up with private sector coverage and other Fed-9
eral health delivery systems. 10
(3) Today, due to positive evidence-based out-11
comes and cost effectiveness of the services provided 12
by doctors of chiropractic, private coverage for chiro-13
practic services has evolved and State licensure for 14
chiropractors has advanced to meet patient needs 15
and health outcomes. 16
(4) This Act would bring Medicare chiropractic 17
coverage more in line with that provided with the 18
Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of De-19
fense, the Federal Employee Health Benefits Pro-20
gram, and private health insurance coverage. 21
(b) P
URPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to ex-22
pand recognition and coverage of a doctor of chiropractic 23
as a ‘‘physician’’ under the Medicare program in connec-24
tion with the performance of any function or action, in-25
cluding current service of ‘‘manual manipulation of the 26
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spine to correct a subluxation’’, as is legally authorized 1
by the State in which such doctor performs such function 2
or action. 3
SEC. 3. PROVIDING MEDICARE COVERAGE FOR ALL PHYSI-4
CIANS’ SERVICES FURNISHED BY DOCTORS 5
OF CHIROPRACTIC WITHIN THE SCOPE OF 6
THEIR LICENSE. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 1861(r)(5) of the Social 8
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(r)(5)) is amended by strik-9
ing ‘‘a chiropractor who is licensed as such by the State 10
(or in a State which does not license chiropractors as such, 11
is legally authorized to perform the services of a chiro-12
practor in the jurisdiction in which he performs such serv-13
ices), and who meets uniform minimum standards promul-14
gated by the Secretary, but only for the purpose of sec-15
tions 1861(s)(1) and 1861(s)(2)(A) and only with respect 16
to treatment by means of manual manipulation of the 17
spine (to correct a subluxation) which he is legally author-18
ized to perform by the State or jurisdiction in which such 19
treatment is provided’’ and inserting ‘‘a doctor of chiro-20
practic who is licensed as a doctor of chiropractic or a 21
chiropractor by the State in which the function or action 22
is performed and whose license provides legal authoriza-23
tion to perform such function or action in such State or 24
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in the jurisdiction in which the function or action is per-1
formed’’. 2
(b) C
ERTAINCOVERAGELIMITS.—Section 1833 of 3
the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395l) is amended by 4
adding at the end the following new subsection: 5
‘‘(ee) L
IMITATION ONPAYMENT OFSERVICESPRO-6
VIDED BYCERTAINDOCTORS OFCHIROPRACTIC.—Not-7
withstanding any other provision of this part, in the case 8
of services of a doctor of chiropractic described in section 9
1861(r)(5), payment may only be made under this part 10
for such services if— 11
‘‘(1) such services are furnished by a doctor of 12
chiropractic who is verified once, by a process de-13
signed by the Secretary, as attending an educational 14
documentation webinar, or other similar electronic 15
product, designed by the Secretary or an updated 16
modified version of such webinar, as designed by the 17
Secretary; or 18
‘‘(2) such services are treatment by means of 19
manual manipulation of the spine to correct a sub-20
luxation.’’. 21
Æ
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